Wonderful wonderful science
by chaos-dark-lord
Summary: A girl with a scientific mind jumps into wonderland out of curiosity and necessity; unfortunately her game can't end because she cant even comprehend irrational things like love. But, ¿Just how much time has passed in the real world since Alice left? Things seem to have changed a lot since then and the new foreigner is neither as naive nor as innocent or nice. Rating may change
1. Chapter 1

Summary:

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A girl with a scientific mind jumps into wonderland out of curiosity ; unfortunately her game can't end because she can't be bothered with irrational things like love in fact she can´t love at all. But just how much time has really passed in the real world since Alice disappeared? Things seem to have changed a lot since then and the new foreigner is neither as naïve nor as innocent or nice and she doesn't give a damn.

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**_(Thoughts)_**

_Speak_

_._

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**CHAPTER 1:**

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It was a wonderful summer night in wonderland, night time had fallen a few minutes ago the breeze was refreshing after a hot day and there didn´t seem to be too many "negotiations" otherwise called gun fights anywhere due to an event taking place in a few days.

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That was the moment they all felt it, a sensation none of the role holders though they would feel again in their lifetimes, a pull in the clocks they had as hearts and a sort of warmness in their beings making them smile or smirk in anticipation, for a new outsider had arrived into wonderland and another game would start. Maybe this time another one of them would get to win and keep the most precious price, a loving heart.

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**? POV:**

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I woke up in the middle of a forest, quite different from where I had been a while ago, it was night-time and the weather was far better and seemed different.

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- **_( Perhaps I hit my head and am hallucinating? Maybe some chemical dispersed in the air? )_**

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I raised my arm to check my sensor for environmental status and dangers. Maybe the report I got was false or wrong.

- **_(ok, I´ll admit that I hacked and stole it, maybe it was a bait, but at least there doesn't seem to be fighting zones around)_**.

If there were chemicals in the air I would be in trouble because I was wearing a field suit for urban advance and basic survival under my clothes, it was like 2 times ticker than a diver`s neoprene suit, bullet prof against small calibers in general and medium calibers over vital spots, it also posses a nice wired optical and copper wiring network inside connected to a bunch of features like a life sport status monitor and unless I decided so it was electronically undetectable. Unfortunately I didn´t have my big equipment backpack, and if there were any biological treats or heavy radiation I was just screwed; On the good side the reading was completely… clear?

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- _Huh!? _

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Maybe the hit broke it. It was not possible, the reading was clear, not even the normal heavy air pollution, suspended particles, or remains of acid rain, it read clean, breathable air.

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- (**_Maybe I shouldn´t have jumped into that deep hole, damn my curiosity. But it was a good chance, better than running away into open fields and becoming an easy target.)_**

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I looked around again, I could see the forest was healthy, I could even hear the noises of insects and some animals. I definitely wasn't in the of the country side anymore, I couldn´t be, the ruin of that old mansion was not there in the distance either. My GPS didn´t read anything, My secure satellital phone had no signal nor did my handheld, heck, none of my gadgets or devises found any signal, no networks, no nothing. I thought that perhaps there was an electromagnetic pulse wave or something but my gadgets were working fine, they weren´t dead, they just did not register anything more than weird statuses.

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I´ll have to check them up later, first I had to find cover before sunrise and check myself for wounds, I felt fine except for the hits I took a few days ago, but I couldn´t tell completely with my self-arranged suit on, given that it covered almost everything and I had taken care of covering the rest as needed with gloves, hat and my gas mask and bio filter, I had even use a second layer by adding on top cargo pants with an utility belt and military bullet proof vest and leather gabardine coat with hood, it was more or less bulky but still light enough and I still retained good mobility and a bunch of inventory capacity,it had already saved my life and I could even pass out for the average guy, perhaps a bit suspicious, but not so in many less than wealthy or rundown places.

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I noticed that my small camel backpack with my personal basic things was still with me even if my equipment bag wasn´t, that meant I had water and food for a day or two if I consumed only the quantities for basic sustenance, I had expected to be out for only a day or so, not to end up who knows where the hell.

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- (**_I guess it's a good thing that I'm paranoid and carry a "forced to run" pack with me all the time.)_**_Better to be crazy prepared than trusty dead._**_  
_**

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I checked my surroundings one more time, activated my sonar and my proximity detector but found nothing, I didn´t expect to, they were designed for a stationary position on short range, no more than 25 meters and they were l amost useless while in movement, so I turned them off and headed towards a small hill in the distance, maybe I could find a cave or an abandoned building ruins or something, at least I would be able to see my surroundings from a higher position and find my next landmark to head to. I´ll just have to be careful of not meeting anyone, I'm not sure where I was or how I´d get here but you can never be too careful.

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**At the clover tower:**

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It was night when Grey the ex-assassin opened his boss's office to bring him more paperwork; he put the huge stack on the table next to the other pile that the incubus hadn´t started yet.

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- _Nightmare sama, if you don't finish all this there is just going to be even more later._ – Gray looked with annoyance at the documents and looked at Nightmare who was looking outside the window.

- _But I can´t help it! A new outsider is far better than paperwork._ – Nightmare pouted childishly

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Grey had to agree, he was also somewhat nervous, an outsider falling into wonderland was something quite rare, the role holders of this generation had been blessed with the chance to play the game whether they liked it or not and boy do they did, various generations could pass until a foreigner appeared, but two foreigners and during the same time? That was almost unheard of, the role holders had fallen in love with Alice due to the game, but once she choose the mad hatter the magical infatuation ended and they were out of the game as poor losers, however that didn´t stop the attraction and perhaps love that they had developed for her to remain, they still longed for her, maybe because she was an outsider the attraction was natural and unavoidable, even if she loved someone else. However a new foreigner was not only another chance to win once the new game started, it was also a way to distance themselves from their own fixation. That of course didn´t change the fact that none of them wanted to end up as losers again.

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- _Youre right. I´m quite eager to meet this new foreigner, I just have to wait for her to fall asleep to see her in her dreams, and it´s already nightime_ – Nightmare said joyously.

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**At the amusement park:**

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Pierce the dorm mouse was trying to hide from Boris the Cheshire cat by running around and staying behind Gowland, the marquis owner of the amusement park, things were as hectic as always and Gowland was about to shoot both with his shotgun when they felt it, a new foreigner had arrived at wonderland.

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They immediately ceased and looked at each other. Pierce´s eyes were bright with glee, Gowland leaved to order a room prepared for the new outsider because she would surely want to stay at the amusement park, Boris was gone since he used a door to teleport away and be the first one to greet the new foreigner, he wasn´t going to be bested this time and being the first one to meet her would surely give him at advantage over the other role holders.

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**At hearts castle:**

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Vivaldi the queen of hearts was in court session ordering beheadings for petty crimes with the Albino Bunny prime minister at her left and the king of hearts at her right. She was about to order another decapitation when she stopped, smiled and got up from her seat with elegance.

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- _We pardon all this offenders for this we deem a good day!_ – She said and went away followed by the prime minister and the king, leaving behind her confused but relieved faceless subjects.

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**At the hatter's mansion:**

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Elliot March, second in command of the "hatters" mafia was scolding the Tweedle twins, the resident guards who hadn´t been guarding at all , although it was probably an excuse to get a bit away from the erotic noises that his sensible ears had heard coming from his boss´s and the resident foreigner´s bedroom. He stopped his rambling and perked when he felt it, a new foreigner. He regained his attention on the twins, but they weren´t there anymore.

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Meanwhile at the mafia´s boss bedroom…

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- _Blood… why did you stopped?_ – whined Alice.

- _I just wanted to appreciate you… now let´s continue_ – Blood said with a certain glint in his eyes that went completely unnoticed by the girl under him.

.

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**At the clock tower:**

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Julius Monroe, wonderlands mortician was, as always, fixing a clock so that it could regain life and be a person again when the door to his office opened loudly and a masked man wearing a bloodstained cloak entered carrying a bag full of bloody clocks, after leaving the bag on the desk the man took off his cloak and mask revealing himself as Ace, the knave of hearts.

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Ace stretched, cracked his neck and lay on the sofa while Julius seemed to pay him no mind, suddenly and for a moment Julius stopped his worked and furrowed his eye brows and sighted, then he continued his work.

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- _Ha,ha,ha you felt that right!?_ – a very cheerful Ace said

- _Mmhh…. Yes, I did, but it doesn´t matter_ – Julius said not lifting his gaze from the clock in his hands

- _Ha,ha don´t be like that, you know it matters more than anything. A new game will start_ – Ace replied – _Might as well kill her since the beginning, what do you think?_ – Ace said just as cheerfully.

- _Whatever…_ – However a slight uncertainty settled in the clock master´s stomach, he knew Ace wasn´t kidding.

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**At the prison and at the circus:**

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Both sides of Joker felt it, the ring master and jester dubbed "White" had been directing the practice of some acrobats without nets, when he felt it he missed the cue for the performers and they fell to their dead, without a care he turned around and headed to the prison to meet "Black" his counterpart and the warden of the prison, he found the jailer in a passage with a scowl in his face.

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- _Why so grumpy? I'm sure you felt it just as I_ – said the jester.

- _That´s exactly why, you dumbass. More fuck*** problems_ - replied the warden.

- _Ho,ho but it´ll be fun. I want to torture a bit whoever made the mistake of coming here. And don´t deny it, you are as excited as me. Foreigners are so weak, especially mentally, it should be fun – _the ring master wasn´t really that exited, but he surely was curious, he wanted to toy a bit with the new foreigner as the old one would not get near the place at all, not that Alice was fun anymore, her traumas had bored them a while ago .

- _And you think the role holders will let her get near us? – _The warden sneered.

- _She will have to come eventually, April´s season is not that far away. – White reassured._

- _ThEn WeLl HaVe Our Fun – Joker said._

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* * *

_._

_Does the girl seems like the no nonsense type? well, she might or might not be, for now shes just been overly wary, if you want to picture her suit then look out for the Jaeger pilot suits from the movie "Pacific Rim" (just google PACIFIC RIM Behind The Scenes: The Pilot Suits or look for the video on youtube) or the suits from the live action "Gantz" but without the light things and then think shes wearing cargo pants and military vest on top._

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* * *

_._

_._

_Its been a while since I wrote anything, so I hope I´m not that rusty also bear with me and please point out orthographic horrors.. err... I mean errors, please as this is not my main language._

_._

**_Also IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF THE MISSING BREAK LINES PLEASE TELL ME HOW! _**

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	2. Chapter 2

I still have problems with erasing the format and the line breaks, so I had to separate lines with a dot. I´ve tried uploading it from word and open office but still no luck.

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* * *

**CHAPTER 2:**

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**? POV**

**.**

A few hours ago I had found a space to small to be called a cave but deep enough for me to fit in at the side of a cliff covered by bushes and trees near a small water stream, it was a good hiding spot, it gave me a chance to rest and check up myself. I set up proximity detector, this version was awesome despite its limitations, originally this things were used to create virtual 3D maps of archeological ruins, but someone had tough to use them to set a perimeter around a camp or even a single operative. Mine was just a small personal one, easy and fast to set and remove, ready in less than 30 seconds if you were used to it, it consisted of a small black box with a shock resistant screen on top that would send a signal to induce a small electric wave to my suit if anything entered my 20 meter perimeter, a shock strong enough to wake me if I were sleeping and that would point the direction or the intruder, it was also very helpful that all my gear had the cadmium batteries and not only lithium, they lasted for weeks and could be solar, electrical or even manually charged with a dynamo crank, and I always kept it charged.

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After checking the perimeter I allowed myself to breath deeply and rest a bit, I was still sore from what had happened before I jumped in the hole, but at least it didn´t seem like there were environmental dangers, I wouldn´t take off my mask or gloves of course, but I could uncover some the parts of my body that were still slightly purple from the events of a few days ago to check how they were healing, thankfully they were fine.

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_**- (At least I didn´t broke anything, I´m not even that bruised)**_

_**.**_

I tried to look for new readings in the air but my sensors still were the same, they read the cleanest environment I´ve ever been at. I couldn´t believe it, but I had to make sure, one cant simply believe the first result, much less when you don´t have controlled conditions like you do in a laboratory. I wasn´t taking risks with the air, but I could check the water, so I got to the stream and used the plastic test tube bag at the side of my right arm to check the toxic levels on the water, I carefully took out the bag and I took a sample.

_._

_- The fu**!?_

_._

Now I was really weirded out. The water toxicity level was none!, it even said that it was good for consumption! no heavy metals in the water, no acids, no detergents, no fecal matter or putrid waste... I even checked for bacteria and none that were dangerous or even common were present!

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I needed to corroborate, just one sample is not enough, so I took various but all read the same, then I took out a small paper ph strip from the small test gear I carried in one of the impermeable bags of my pants and used it on the water... the same.

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**- (One last try) – **From another bag I took out another ph and temperature strip, one of those that are used in common aquariums.

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_- I cant f***** believe it!_

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I returned to my hiding spot and breathed deeply to calm myself a bit, the evidence was as sound as possible given my equipment and conditions of testing; This place was clean, no pollution whatsoever, something was obviously very wrong.

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_ - If I could dream I´d believe I was dreaming_

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I was either very far away from where I had been the day before, I was hallucinating very badly or something worse.

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I went to sleep thinking that I might as well be in another world.

* * *

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I woke up a the sound of gunshots in the distant, I have heard too many to not recognize them. They weren't near my perimeter but were close enough to hear them clearly. I quickly gathered my stuff and carefully slipped out of my hiding place with care not to be easy to spot.

Some distance away I saw a guy in a red coat with a sword in one hand and something shiny on the other, I couldn´t see very well what it was, but I was more interested in the fact that he wasn´t wearing a mask, that meant that my readings were fine and the air was breathable.

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I took my digital binoculars and zoomed in, I noticed that the shiny thing he was holding was an old style clock _**(and quite bloodied)**_ and he was putting it in a bag, the guy had already turned around to leave when I cursed at myself for getting distracted, he wasn´t holding the sword anymore and I never noticed when he had sheathed it.

_**.**_

_**- (Probably put it inside his coat, I know its quite easy to hide things as big as rifles inside a coat)**_

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I could only see his back, he was a tall brunette and I decided to follow him at the distance, it was my best change to find out where I was. My binoculars allowed me a 30x zoom, so I could follow him from afar, but I would still be careful, if he had fought someone and that someone had scurried away, that someone might still be around.

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So I waited for him to get a bit away and started to followed him... for hours... and hours... and more hours.

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* * *

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The Ace of hearts was arriving at the clock tower´s territory, just before entering the city he stopped for a moment and turned around a bit to look at an undefined spot in the forest behind him, then he continued heading for the huge tower at the center of the city.

**.**

**.**

**ACE´s POV**

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_.What a boring day._

Seriously? So few trying to ambush me in the forest? And then following me? But they do deserve a bit of credit, I wouldn´t have know it if it weren't for the reflected sunlight I caught on the clock after I killed their buddies. Too bad they never attacked.

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- I wonder when I will meet the new foreigner...

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**.**

**? POV**

_**.**_

_**.**_

_**- (Did that guy noticed me?!) **Nha, impossible. I'm too far away_

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But at least, or more likely "at last" he lead me to a city, before entering I should do some basic recognizance.

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I moved to a small hill in the outskirts of the town and checked the place, the buildings were of old european style and not tall, there werent any sky-crappers or industrial parks. At the center of the area there was tower that seemed very weird, at more or less a third of its height it had a sort of rotating bridge and 12 smaller towers surrounded it, each small tower had a roman number on their top facing each of their sides. It was clear that from above it would look like a clock.

_**.**_

_**- (Maybe it is) **__How weird._

_._

I checked on the general place, I spotted escape routes and hiding places, or corners where I could end up trapped if I accidentally ended there, I checked as much as I could from what I could see. Then I focused on the what kind of stores were around, actually there weren´t many and all seemed very traditional of those little touristic historical towns and cities. I found out where the poorer zones were, those were at the outskirts with low rated looking bars and hotels, some warehouses and run down buildings.

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I spotted a place in that zone that seemed good for my purposes, it was somewhat rundown and seemed abandoned, humble and old enough to not gather attention and near the forest and some streets that could be good for scape routes in case I needed to or something. I decided that I would stay there after I did a day or so of surveillance.

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Lastly I focused on the people, at the distance their clothes were normal, however when I zoomed it at max I saw they´re faces... or lack of them.

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- (_**WHAT THE F**** F****** ·"%dnuyk()&·$%&/)%&·%·/ (FURIOUS AND FRENETIC string of profanities) &/$/·(·="!· **__THEY DONT HAVE EYES!_

_._

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_._

_It seems that this girl could be a good match for Black at cussing XD _

_It also seems that she is been overly wary, I wonder why?_

_._

_Do you think I should put all dialogs and not only the mind speech in **bold**?_


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

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**? POV**

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How was it possible? I´ve been observing the people here for hours till afternoon came again, I´ve been so engrossed in my observations that I didn´t even registered the passage of time, it seemed to change suddenly,and before I knew it was afternoon,I´ve been analyzing things, yet I still can´t figure anything out. The people here don´t have eyes yet they don´t seem to need them. I saw a girl at a park cry, tears came out from nowhere, I zoomed in on many peopel, but their faces don´t seem to be sewn or anything, their eyes simply aren't there.

There was also the issue of the deaths, so far I´ve seen two murders and the bodies had disappeared, they have been decomposed into a small but somewhat firm cloud of darkness vaguely resembling a body, leaving behind only a clock, then some other clouds of particles came out from the shadows and absorbed the recently formed things and took away the clock leaving nothing behind, they seemed to disappear into the shadows of the alleys where it happened. My mind is quite puzzled and Im quite curious about this, I now that maybe I was supposed to be scared, but I can´t comprehend that, instead I´m exited at the discovery, but any research will have to top `priority is me.

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I´ve been here for two days and I still don´t know where I am,I don´t know how long I´ll have to stay before I can manage to get back to a known place, I'm about to run out of supplies, I already drank all the water from my camel pack and the contents of a vial I found in my clothes, I was so concentrated looking through my binoculars that I drank it without even noticing, I don´t remember putting it there,I don´t even remember having seen that vial, but if I I had put it there then it was more likely liquor, perhaps anise or mescal. I sometimes carried around a small flask and sometimes I use distinctive bottles to distinguish the liquids I carry around.

I also have no money that can be used here because the currency is different and on top of that I need a place to rest. There is no choice, I have to enter town and find a job or something,from my recognizance I already know a secure place where to stay and rest, but I need money.

Stealing is out of question, I´m not good at pickpocketing nor am I a thief... well, not of money anyways; So I´ll have to find a job where I´m not asked questions and don´t need to take of my gas mask, I don´t know how people would react to my eyes, so far I´ve only seen one person besides myself having eyes,and I still don´t know what´s going on... wait a sec, I think I know where to find a job.

* * *

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I checked my gear, put on a black handkerchief over the double filters of the lower part of my gas mask and entered town, I traversed the less crowded streets of the outskirts and stopped outside a restaurant/bar in the shadiest part of town, In the window was an announce of "hiring general helper" in the inside.

This kind of places were normally controlled by either people who were struggling, or by criminals who used them as gathering and meeting places or fronts for other kind of illegal activities, sometimes even local mafias used them as hangouts; Either way I knew that they would pay me little but they would not ask questions, normally the people who asked for the job were people in need of quick cash and would not stay for more than a few days if more than one day anyways, people who were reserved and didn't wanted to be found, people like runaways, homeless and, backpacker travelers, that´s how I got to know about it. Before everything I had backpacked traveled a bit, I went to various countries carrying only what I could carry on my backpack and on my self in my pockets and utility bags in my belt and I learned a thing or two by taking jobs and working at hostels, bars, restaurants, and all kind of places for a day or two to get a meal and small cash to save on my expenses.

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I opened the door and everything went silent like in those old movies where someone enters a bar and everyone inside stops whatever they´re doing to look at the new comer, it wasn´t crowded, just a handful of people but still it was a weird sensation being observed by people without eyes. I pointed to the cartel and everyone went back to whatever they had been previously doing and the man behind the counter made me a signal to follow him to the door next to the counter that I presumed led to the kitchen. Once there he merely stated that I would wash the dishes, swept the floor, take out the trash and whatever else he needed me to do, he said how much I would be paid for it at the end of the day for whatever days I would work there and was very clear that the amount was no negotiable, If I didn´t liked it I could go somewhere else. Just like I thought he didn´t ask questions,not even my name. I nodded and headed to the sink to start washing the dishes, he nodded in return and went out again with a woman whom I presumed was the "chef".

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I had been in the kitchen for hours, too engrossed on my thoughts to truly noticed how long had passed when the man came back and told me that it was enough for today, I just needed to take out the trash and that would be all, he would pay me and I could eat from whatever was left in the pots of the stove, once again I only nodded and took out the bins and into big bags to take out.

The kitchen of the bar had a door that led to a small alleyway behind the building, when I opened the door to take out the trash I was greeted with a dangerous sight, a tall man with dark hair and a black lizard tatoo in his neck was slitting the throat of another guy after telling something about breaching into neutral territories, it was happening just a meter away from.

I was stunned, the man had yellow eyes and after dropping the corpse turned to look at me. It somehow managed to regain self-control and did the best that came to my mind, I would have to pretend. I took out the trash and put into the trash container in the alley as if I had seen nothing, then and with calm I entered the kitchen again closing the door behind me. The man was gone like nothing and I took a seat in a chair, I needed to calm myself. My hands we shaking firsts.

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-_**(It's the same no matter where.. ) **_

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_**.**_

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Four days have passed since I entered town, I had worked part-time at the bar and I slept in the abandoned building I had found, well, "sleeping" was not exactly the word, just pseudo-sleeping I guess,always half awake; each night I set up my perimeter and hanged my portable hamaca, it wasn´t cold , so I didn´t need my thermal survival sheet, except for yesterday night I´d been going to rest there. I was thankful that my suit allowed my skin to breath, but even so I was in serious need of a bath and the place had no bathroom or water , I stayed at a low-cost hotel in another part of town more clean, at this point I was sure I didn´t need my mask to protect myself from the environment, however I did need it to keep my face hidden. I haven´t learn much in detail, but now I know that this place is called wonderland, people called role holders control the small state like territories of this palce; So far I´ve heard about, the hatter´s territory, the hearts castle, and the amusement park, all of them at war with each other except for the clover tower and the clock tower which was were I was at the moment, these are neutral territories.

One of the most strangest things that freaked me out are the "time changes", the time of the day is random, **(That is impossible and crazy, What happened to planetary rotation and translation?! What about the moon and sun?!)** , oh, How I wanted a telescope right now...

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I needed more info, I was originally just curious, now I am interested, I´m sure that I can find something useful in a library, but this place had a very small one, while I was researching there I heard a woman complaining to another that the books were in the castle of hearts and at the hatters mansion, she also complained that because of the ball at the castle in a few days no one could go until the event ended. I knew I needed to go there, castles or historical building with libraries normally have historical documents and general books, just what I needed, I just needed to find how.

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* * *

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**At the clover tower:**

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Nightmare was restless and worried, he had even decided to take some medicine to not collapse. It had been practically a week and no one had heard of the foreigner, they all felt when she drank the potion, however no one had seen her.

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**Nightmare´s POV**

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Gowland had come to visit Julius while he I was hiding from Grey in the clockmaster´s office, somehow we three had joined for a drink at the marquise´s insistence and at some point the chit chat turned to the new foreigner. Gowland thought that perhaps the new foreigner was staying at the clock tower, but Julius said that it wasn´t the case, in fact Julius had assumed that the new foreigner was at the amusement park because Ace had complained that Vivaldi had been more bossy lately and even changed the date of the ball to greet the new guest, but the foreigner have not appeared yet at the castle even when the game started.

They then turned to me and I confirmed that the new foreigner wasn´t at clover´s territory either. I pouted because now the hatters had two foreigners living with them;Gowland denied it and scratched his unshaven 3 day beard, if that had been the case Boris would have known it immediately via the twins or Pierce would have known it too, hell, Alice herself hasn´t appear to show her around, so it was obvious that the new foreigner wasn´t at the hatter´s mansion.

Both Julius and Gowland turned to look at me.

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_-What about her dreams? You must have met her already, right?_ - Gowland asked taking another sip of wine.

_-Unfortunately not._ - I admitted uncomfortably and they looked even more perplexed.

_-She is not dead, we would have sensed it. So why haven´t you enter her dreams yet?_ – Julius had look worried for a second I knew what he was thinking even without needing to read his mind. I could enter other´s dreams and I would have done so already had I been able to, I had used a lot of energy trying to pinpoint her dreams but I haven´t got any luck.

-I_ haven´t been able to. Its not as If I can´t enter her dreams,it is as if she wasn't dreaming at all. And that leaves out very few reason as to why. - _And none of them were pleasant or reassuring.

_-And what possibilities are those?_ - Asked a slightly more serious Gowland.I sighted before responding.

_-In order from the less bad to the worst possible thing... number one is that she might not been sleeping at all, highly unlikely. Number two... she might be hurt and in a coma, maybe she hit her head and is unconscious. Number three would be her being brain-dead but her body still functioning. Or worst of all..._

_-There are things worse than that! _- Gowland exclaimed interrupting me.

_-Yes. There is one territory where I can´t intrude in dreams... If she is being held there I would be unable to reach her dreams_. - Realization hit them both.

_-Joker... _- Julius looked grim.

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We remembered what "he", or rather "them", had done to Alice. I didn´t want to think what would have happened to the new foreigner if by any chance she had ended up there.

_._

_-Wait... perhaps there are still other options!_ - Gowland said and then added - _We need to find out if Joker is involved_.

_-And what do you suppose we do? Simply ask him if he has a wandering foreigner in his domains?_ - Julius remarked sarcastically.

-Actually_ that isn´t such a bad idea, except that if he doesn´t we´ll be telling him that there is a stray foreigner in wonderland whom not even I have been able to contact – _An idea was starting to form in my head _– I can contact the jester in a dream, he can´t beat me there and I can force a truthful answer from him... maybe._

_-Its a bad idea – _Julius said matter of facts, and maybe he was right.

_But what choices do we have? _- Gowland was right too.

.

I waited for the next nighttime and created a bridge dream to reach Joker´s jester half only. He was hanging upside while resting his back on a non existing wall when he greeted me, I couldn´t read past his grin, but there was something unsettling and slightly feral in that expression.

.

_-Oh? Might I ask why you have call me? Last time you met me in a dream you scared poor Alice by trying to kill me, even though you know no one can kill me._

.

-Joker´s lone eye maliciously focused on me, last time I saw him in a dream was when he entered one of Alice´s dreams to "personally" invite her to the next circus´s performance. I had telepathically beat the crap out of him. He was the only other roleholder who could enter dreams too, but almost never did because I would most likely beat him out of them. However I knew he sometimes entered into nightmares, I never interfered in those.

.

_-Or perhaps this time is about the new foreigner? _

.

-I perked a little at that and he noticed it. His red eye gleaming in anticipation.

.

_-So what is it? Speak incubus, I am busy_.

.

There was no playing around. So I decided to be direct.

.

_-Do you have her?_

.

-His eye brow raised a bit and he shrugged while rotating his body to stand on the ground. After a second he answered.

.

_-If I did Why would I tell you? ... mmhhh...Yet you were straight forward in your question, so I will correspond by being forward in the answer... She is not at the circus._

_. _

He is playing with me... damn bastard, and he is one of the few minds I can´t read if they don´t want me to, not that I really want to, their mind is probably way too gross, but I need to find out,that was why I am here dealing with the likes of him.

.

_-And what about the prison? _- I asked as calmly as I could.

_-Shouldn´t you ask that to my counterpart? I only take care of the circus y´know. -_ He tilted his head to the side in a false confused pout, I then noticed that for some reason he decided not to let his counterpart participate in this exchange.

_**.**_

_**-(Like hell you don´t know! You are the same person!)** _

-_If you want to ask my counterpart something come in person to do so if you dare. However don´t come bothering us with a foreigner we haven´t seen or care about._

.

He stopped for a second and turned just a bit so that I could see his grin.

_._

_- But if we find her first ... well... Finder´s keeper´s..._

.

.

* * *

.

**? POV**

.

I was working again at the tavern, this time I was serving food to the clients _**(I didn´t have to take the orders, the bartender assumed I wouldn´t talk anyways and he was right)**_. Amazingly this was a busy day and the place was full.

So far I had gotten must of my info just by listening to people, and it seemed that I was about to hear more interesting stuff, while I passed between the tables to serve or clean I can hear bits and pieces of conversations.

.

.

_-Hey, did you heard? Apparently there is a new foreigner in wonderland._

_-Is it a male or a female?..._

_**(Coffee and cake for this table)**_

.

_-I heard from a maid at the clover tower that the roleholders hadn´t meet the foreigner yet, and the foreigner seems to have been here for a while now..._

_**(A beer for this one)**_

.

_-Maybe someone killed the foreigner already._

_-Then why would they be concerned? I heard that the reason the queen changed the date of the event was because the foreigner said that the party arranges was not of his liking?_

_-So the foreigner it´s a man and already conquered the queen? Poor guy, he doesn´t know what he´s getting himself into..._

_**(Full meals for these two)**_

.

_-Well, I heard that the foreigner had already turned them down and is living with a faceless._

_-As if. Then that faceless would be dead already._

_-But is truth, the cat was mumbling about it at the amusement park and the workers heard him..._

_**(Whisky and rum)**_

.

I moved to the counter to get the next round of beer for another table in the corner, by all looks the guys in that corner were planing something illegal, and that is standard easy recognizable in this or any other world . In the few days I had worked here I had seen such transactions, I obviously have never got involved but I´d been given good tips by guys like that. I went on to give them their beers.

.

-_How are we gonna do it? We need more people to carry the stuff inside, its not even that big, just someone who can carry an extra box or two._

_-Yeah, I know, but no one wants to go as a mule. People prefer to attend the ball or are to afraid to go at all._

.

I put the beers on the table and turned to leaven when one of the 3 guys took a hold of my arm. I didn´t move, just looked at him curiously, I knew what was about to come.

.

_-Hey guy, you wanna earn some extra bucks?_

.

I tilted my head to the side to tell him to continue.

.

_-Its really easy and its not dangerous. We just need some extra arms to carry some things from one territory to other and then take some stuff into the ball in a few days, don´t worry, the shipment for the party is clean, what you say? We´ll pay you well and in advance._

.

So they needed a mule or a brute for trafficking... sure thing, I´ve been involved in worse things, besides I would get to know other territories. I however had to play them a bit more, so I put a hand on my chin as if thinking, then I rubbed my covered fingers in a motion to ask how much they were willing to pay. The 3 smiled relieved and we started negotiating the details and the payment even when I didn´t utter a single word.

It was settled , I would help them transport stuff the next time change once per day, they would pick me up in this place and we would go to the amusement park tomorrow, the clover tower the next day, near hatters territory the day after that and back here to get more stuff and then head to the castle for the ball the last day. After all was agreed they left, paying for their drinks and leaving me a juicy tip.

It surprised me how easily they hired me without even seen my face, no questions asked, but I guessed they were really desperate. When I finished my other tasks and ate my hard earned meal (never taking of my mask completely) the bartender came to pay me and told me that tomorrow´s breakfast was on his part and that I should be careful near the hatters territory cause the guys I had just made the deal were not part of the hatters mafia.

.

* * *

**A FEW DAYS LATER**

**.**

Everything had gone smoothly, and we now were heading to the castle of hearts, no special costumes were required,and I was relieved at that, we would enter from a service entrance to deliver the stuff to a contact in the castle and then we would scatter into the hearts territory.

My plan was set, once we entered the castle I would search for the library, I have tried my nets but internet seemed to be nonexistent **_(I had a small breakdown the night before when I realized it)_** and I had no access to maps, but one of my peers had worked at the castle before and had given us a basic outline of the place, so I more or less knew how to get to my destination.

I knew how to hide in a big place for a few days if needed but that wasn´t my plan, it was too risky. Luckily for me libraries were normally not very crowded during parties. I just needed to check or take with me some books, so I could be done before the ball ended while everyone was at the party.

We heard the music getting louder until we came to a stop, we have finally arrived. After the old salute of some money exchanging hands we were inside giving up whatever was in the cargo, then we all scurried away and I made my way towards the halls rather than getting back to the service entrance. The game was on...

.

* * *

.

.

Still with the breakline problems. Also I updated so that people could get to know the story a bit more this weekend.

Bye the way, most of the technology I mention already exist in real life or is under testing or at least it´s design has been theorized. If you have any doubts about some of the references I make (even though in this chapter I didn´t add many) don't hesitate to ask.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry if the story has been a bit slow until now, with this chapter we start we´ll see more action.**

.

* * *

**CHAPTER 4:**

**.**

**.**

**WHITE´S POV.**

**.**

It has always amused me as much as it annoys me the way how everyone tries to stay as far from us as possible, yet they keep looking every once in a while, especially when we actually attend other roleholders`s events.

As joker we are not required to attend other´s events even though I must hold some myself, to me other`s events are normally boring and my counterpart just dislikes them plainly unless it´s a set up for catching someone, he has never been one for social interaction anyways, so we rarely ever attend to it seems that tonight might be quite fun and that´s why we are here.

After I had that conversation with the incubus we´ve been curious; not only about a second foreigner entrance into wonderland while another foreigner is already here, I don´t recall hearing about a situation like this happening, but because the new toy was roaming around without any role-holder`s help, normally if a foreigner was not found after a day or two it meant that she (or rarely he ) was dead. Yet this new foreigner was undoubtedly alive.

The thought of a new foreigner that maybe was withering in pain somewhere while the other roles holders got anxious and their hopes of winning a game were being crushed amused me so much. They were already so desperate that Nightmare dared to call me to a dream to ask me if I was the culprit. How despairing it must be for them if they recurred to ask me, the most feared villain in wonderland ,if I had taken her prisoner yet.

Nightmare had been such a cautioned coward; The cocky bastard had even set a dream so I couldn´t defeat him there. **_(I still own him payback from that time in Alice´s dream)_** However by that conversation they also informed us of everything about the issue with the new foreigner, so easy to figure it out…

.

_- Looks like the hatter is not gonna do his bitch tonight – Black interrupted my musings and directed my attention to the scene at the other side of the ball room.._

_-My, what an amusing show did the hatter and his foreigner provided for everyone._

.

.

* * *

**ALICE POV**

.

.

Something is up, at first I thought it was just me, but I was wrong.

A few days ago Elliot started preparing even more carrot desserts, the twins have been more mischievous and have leave their post more constantly than usual, even Blood gets a bit more perky and rude at moments. I asked Elliot if the lands were gonna change soon or if (gulp) April´s season was coming again soon but he denied it, then when I asked him why was everyone acting strange, Blood interrupted us and dragged me away, he was a bit "forceful" that night.

Maybe Blood had been right and I was just tired, but now I know that´s not the case. Everyone is acting strange. Vivaldi changed the date of the ball and she considers it very rude, even more so because is a roleholder´s event, Peter hasn´t glomp me yet, Ace has not wandered lost into the mansion grounds recently, Nightmare has not visited me in my dreams, Boris has not visited the twins or me and I haven`t seen Pierce in a while either. I found all that a bit strange, but here at the ball I really noticed that something was up.

_._

**_- (I know! I´ll ask Julius.)_**

_._

I walked up to Julius who had his eyes closed and was apparently deeply thinking about something, that or he was just annoyed as always that he was forced to get out of the tower and come to a party.

.

_- Hi Julius_

_- Hi Alice – He opened his eyes and turned to greet me._

_- How you´ve been? I hope you sleep a bit more. I know you`re always busy but you need to rest._

_- Thank you for your concern, but it is unnecessary – for a second he looked at me like he used to do when I was staying at the clock tower before I moved to the mansion, after that he acted almost as cold as when I met him._

_- Hey Julius… what is wrong, why is everyone acting so strange? Well, at least a everyone is acting a bit weirder than usual._

_._

Julius raised his eyebrow and stared at me.

.

_- He hasn´t told you?_

_- Tell me what?_ – I was confused. Julius opened his mouth to tell me but we were interrupted by Peter.

_- Alice my dear! It´s good to see you my love! I was worried that with your new foreigner friend you would be too busy to come, but I'm glad that you´re here._ – The prime minister chirped.

_- Wait! What new foreigner!?_ – I was shocked! Another foreigner? I didn't though it was possible for two foreigners to be in wonderland at the same time. Was that why everyone was acting weird? Why didn´t Blood tell me?

_- He hasn´t told you my dear?_ - Peter looked as shock as I, but I was gonna clarify the situation right now.

_- Excuse me please._

.

I leaved them behind and headed to where Blood was flirting with some faceless girls, when he saw me approaching he dismissed them, I didn´t give him time to say anything.

.

_- Why didn´t you tell me that there was another foreigner in wonderland?_ – He didn´t bother to look me in the eyes when he responded.

_- Oh? Don't be jealous my dear, it's not important since you are the one here._

_- NOT IMPORTANT!? Blood! Of course it is important to me! Another foreigner is someone I can relate to and whom I can be friends with; Someone aside all the madness and violence of this world!_ – Blood narrowed his eyes and looked at me.

_- I thought you were happy and content, certainly you have never complained, in fact you have screamed for more, or are you still trying to lure more men to satisfy your low desires?_

_._

I couldn´t believe it! How dare he! I love him, I even renounced to going back to my world for him, and he dares say those things!

I turned around to leave before my tears came out. He tried to stop me by graving my arm but I shoved him off and ran to the gardens, I needed to be alone for a while.

.

.

* * *

**? POV**

.

I was already traversing the halls of heart´s castle in the ground floor. Because they were lighted I didn´t need to wear the night vision and infrared goggles I carried, that also meant I would be way too easy to spot as I wasn´t wearing any costume, a maid or guard outfit would have been useless because my eyes were an obvious giveaway, but on the bright side I had the advantage of my gear, without that I would have been very vulnerable; I would have to rely mainly on my own vision, I activated my proximity tactical "through-wall detection system" and "on the move" sensors, I was glad I had one attached to me connected to one of the output screens on my right arm in my suit, it´s range was way less wide than the static one I used at nights to set a safe perimeter, but It could be active in real time while I moved and gave me around a 10 meter radius lecture, even through walls, and that was enough to move undetected in most low tech buildings. That's how right now I was able to hide in empty rooms or corridors when needed and even map the place as I explored.

.

I finally came to where I guessed was the library, but there was one guard outside it.

.

_**- ( I need to get rid of him…)**_

_**.**_

I set a small Bluetooth key finder the size of a coin (_**I love low cost useful every day technology**_) in a strategic position in the adjacent hall I was hiding, then I stood so that I would be detected and prepared my electric retractable combat baton and activated the keyfinder, it stated emitting a continuous blipping noise and the guard came to investigate, before he knew anything **BAM!**

I struck him in the nape of the neck. Fast, sleek and clean, no blood splattered and no noise of fighting,I wasn´t even good at direct fighting, I didn´t know if he was dead and I didn´t care, I saw that bodies of the people here disappeared at different rates in this world, so I couldn´t risk to leave it in the open. I opened the door and dragged the body inside.

The library was amazing! It was enormous, I would have liked to explore it and get lost into the hundreds of tomes, so much knowledge! But I couldn´t, I had to find what I came for and leave fast, I didn´t know when the party was going to end or when more guards will come for a shift or anything, so I looked for the reference computer or cabinet. I didn´t find any computer, but the registries were on papers and I found the sections I needed, I went to the history section and took out some books of "history of wonderland" that weren't that big and put them in my coat pockets, then I went to look for a medic or biology book, but in that instant my sensors detected someone, I had gotten to far away from the door, so I didn´t knew when someone was coming, unfortunately for me that person saw me. He looked like some kind of stereotype of a medieval king.

.

_**- GUARDS!**_

_**- (OH SHIT!)- **_I ran to the window and jumped outside, I was lucky that the library wasn´t in a higher floor.

_**.**_

Soon guards were chasing me, I needed to get away fast and find a place to hide, suddenly I realized that the laberythn garden I´ve seen from afar was near and a girl was close to one of its walls, the girl had eyes, that meant she was important. To my bad luck I also noticed that more guards were getting near both ends of the bush walls leaving me no choice but to try and take that girl hostage and scurry into the maze.

I prepared the blade of my right arm, both my arms were armed with retractable darkened blades the size of my forearm that could extend above my hand and always had an exposed razor edge at the sides, among their advantages I could count on being free to use my hands to hold something else.

The girl had a thin frame, she didn´t noticed that I was getting close_, _so before she tried anything I sprinted with all my energy and caught her in an immobilizing position by her back and keeping the blade close at her neck, she had managed to scream while I was facing the approaching guards and my hood fell back revealing my head.

.

I retreated to the maze with my hostage.

.

_- DO not SAY anyTHING. – _My voice came out electronically distorted sounding kinda robotic thanks to the small microphone and sound device in my collar, it was one of the things I managed to salvage from the original helmet of the suit.

.

I had been right, she was light and cooperative, the guards hadn´t follow us and now we were in a more spacious area , I was ready to drop the girl and run away when I saw a bunch of people getting near with guns in their hands, they all had eyes.

.

_**- ( I am so screwed) **_

_._

_**.**_

* * *

.

** KING OF HEARTS´S POV**

.

The king of hearts have wanted to get away from the party for a while to enjoy a bit of silence, the queen had been nastier because the new foreigner hasn´t appear yet. So he went to the most quiet place possible that was still close enough to the party so he could return fast if needed.

When he arrived he was displeased to see no guard at the doors, guards sometimes slacked a bit, but with Ace as their commander that was to be expected, he entered and at his right saw the body of the guard and right at the back near the big paneled windows he saw a figure looking at the books with the moon illuminating the background.

Did someone was fool enough to try an attack during an event? That was strictly prohibited. Was that why Joker was there? To catch someone red handed and enjoy the torture more?

The king observed the person for a moment, the intruder was wearing a long coat with a hood and the face was hidden by a sort of black plate. Suddenly the person noticed him.

.

_**- GUARDS!**_

_**.**_

The king screamed and the figure jumped through the window and into the garden, almost immediately the guards were chasing the intruder.

_**.**_

* * *

_**.**_

_**PIERCE´S POV**_

_**.**_

I was at the labyrinth trying to stay away from Boris and the twins. I saw a bit more guards than expected in the gardens, it was a bit suspicious but I didn´t care. Boris and the Twiddle's have been bulling me a lot more because they hadn´t met the new foreigner yet, that´s when I heard it. Alice was screaming and she was near the rose garden. I ran to where I heard her.

I saw someone holding Alice hostage with a blade at her neck and dragging her into the maze, I scurried my way in and stood behind the person, I could already see the other role-holders getting near but they were still too far away and we couldn´t risk shooting the person or we might hit Alice. I signaled to Alice and luckily she noticed me.

I made my move and from behind the person I took a hold of the head to try and twist it to break the neck while Alice used all her force to get free, that caught off guard the person who stumbled backwards, so instead of breaking the person´s neck I ended up with a sort of half helmet in my hand and Alice running behind me.

The person rolled on the floor and raised her head.

.

_**- (She has eyes, chu !)**_

_**.**_

I couldn´t see her very well, but she had green eyes, by the look in her eyes, I knew she wasn´t done, she looked around frankly but without panic when …

.

_- HEY! OVER HERE! - _From behind the bush wall someone screamed and some smoke bombs were thrown and landed near me and Alice.

.

The smoke came out quickly and was filling the space making it unable for anyone to see clearly. Someone started shooting at us and at the other role holders. I threw Alice to the floor and covered her.

Before the smoke covered all, I saw the boss aiming and shooting at where the girl had been, but she had moved already and jumped though the back bush. I heard more gunshots everywhere and then people running away and later a vehicle in the distance.

.

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* * *

**What do you think, is this interesting enough for me to continue it? **

**And what do you think will happen?**

**How do you think the role-holders will react? this new foreigner has just endangered their precious Alice and was part of a very suspicious thing.**

**I also haven´t decided if there will be romance or rather with who.**

**OH, If you´re curious, her voice sounds like GLaDOS from Portal when she uses that sound distorter.**

* * *

**Can someone tell me how do you save your documents and in what format before uploading them? **

**the break lines and - keep getting erased.**


	5. Chapter 5

**And this is were the real action starts.**

**.**

**Also I still have no luck with ffnet erasing the format, I already tried saving it in every format the docs manager mention but still no luck, so if you have no problem please tell me which settings you use when saving your docs to upload them later.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 5:**

**.**

**.**

**PIERCE´S POV**

**.**

**.**

- **_(She had eyes, chu!)_**

**_._**

I was seated quietly in Gowland´s office at the amusement park. Somehow during the commotion Boris appeared and kicked me to get Alice to safety, I ran with them to cover her back and he used a door to get us to the amusement park, for now I´m with Alice while Boris goes back to get Gowland. I´m holding the helmet thing the other foreigner was using.

I almost killed the new foreigner! But the new foreigner was threatening Alice, What was the new foreigner doing there? Where has she been since she arrived? Am I in a problem? I didn´t know that person was a foreigner! What I´m I supposed to do, chu?

.

- _Pierce… are you all right?_ – I heard Alice´s voice.

- _Eek! Sorry Alice, I was lost in thought, chu. I'm fine. Are you alright?-_ With all this in my mind I forgot to check that Alice wasn´t hurt. It makes me feel even worse, chu…

- _Yes, I´m all right. _

_._

The door opened and Boris and Gowland came in. Boris looked as scary as always, and Gowland was angry too.

.

- _I can´t believe someone dared to attack during and event! It´s against the rules! _– Gowland was not happy.

- _And most of them managed to escape and the rest killed themselves!_ – Then he paused and added silently – _The Jokers weren´t happy about that, they didn´t capture anyone alive._

- _JOKER WAS THERE! _– Alice was very pale. We all new how Joker had tortured her mentally.

.

Boris looked to where Alice and I were; he took a seat at the other side of Alice and passed an arm over her shoulders to comfort her.

.

- _Don´t worry, It´s over now and whoever attacked will get what they deserve, are you alright Alice?_ – I could smell his uncertainty, but Alice calmed down and that was good.

- _Yes, but… What happened? _

- _Good, question, chu_. – I also wanted to know. A little while before that girl took Alice hostage I heard some explosion in the castle.

- _Shut up rat!_ – The cat looked then at Gowland.

.

Gowland sighted and pondered before explaining.

.

- _We were all in the ball room when you leaved after your fight with Blood, a little after we heard some explosions coming from other part of the castle, the kitchens and the soldier's quarters apparently. Then we heard you scream and we ran to see what was happening, when we came to the gardens we saw you being held by that person and then Pierce appeared to help you. They threw smoke bombs and attacked. _

_._

- _Is Blood alright_!? – Alice asked.

- _Unfortunately_ – Gowland has never gotten along with the boss, but he understood Alice was worried, so he turned to the cat- _Boris, take her to the hatter´s mansion._

_._

Boris left with Alice and both Gowland and I were deep in thought, when the door opened again the cat was fussing.

.

- _Damn hatter… -_The cat hissed and then Gowland asked him:

- _What happened? Was there a problem?_

- _Some businesses in the hatter´s territories were attacked too while Dupre was away._ – Gowland smiled at this – _The problem is that when I brought back Alice, the bastard basically insulted her for going away with other men, he didn´t even asked if she was fine. I don´t know why she choose him._

- _Great, they seemed to go after what the hatter values, I just hope that the new foreigner wasn´t near where the attacks happened._

.

I decided to tell them.

.

- _She wasn´t, chu_ – I didn´t look at them right away.

- _What do you mean rat? Have you already met the new foreigner?_ – I could feel the cat´s gaze intently on me. It was unnerving.

- _Well…Yes, she was the one holding Alice hostage_ – I looked at them and held the helmet up.

.

Gowland took the helmet to examine it and Boris face palmed.

.

-_This is not good…_

.

I had to agree with the cat, this wasn´t looking good, not at all.

.

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* * *

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**? POV**

.

I was in the back of a delivery truck with a bunch of faceless; we were all panting and breathing fast and hard after getting away from the castle of hearts,. My companions **_(for now)_** were happy, but I was bothered and annoyed. Not only did I not obtain what I had gone to get, one of the roleholders saw me, which means they now know of my presence. And on top of all I lost my gas mask and my coat **_(glad I leaved my small back pack hidden in the abandoned building)_**.

I´m glad that the bush I jumped though wasn´t supported by a real wall (**_but it was a f**** rose´s bush!),_** I managed to protect most of my face with my arms but I still got some cuts **_(Ouch, must not touch…. Damn it, I´ll have to clean them later)_** and worse of all, my coat got caught in the thorns and I had had no choice but to leave it there and escape. I always considered that I might have to take off my coat or lose it somehow, and that´s why I carry nothing important or irreplaceable there, But I LIKED THAT LEATHER COAT!

.

When I came at the other side of the bush I saw some guys dressed as guards throwing a few smoke bombs and providing coverture fire, they motioned to me and we ran towards a corner of a road in the labyrinth that was cut open to the side where a truck that was ready to leave. Some other guys managed to get on and then we hit it off. I noticed that in the truck were some of the boxes I had help to deliver in the past days.

.

And that´s where I am right now.

.

- _Oh, Another foreigner… ANOTHER FOREIGNER!? – Dude 1 said_

- _You´re not the foreigner we went after! Just who are you?! – Dude 2 chorused_

_._

Maybe I fell from the pan to the fire.

.

- _Foreigner? … Sorry, I´m new here, perhaps you can explain some stuff to me._

_._

Or maybe not, perhaps my tonight´s adventure wasn´t in vain.

.

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* * *

.

**BLOOD´s POV**

.

.

Since I felt it doubt began to drill into my mind, a new foreigner? I knew it was not impossible. But...

What would happen to Alice? I was glad because the other role holders would get something to lay their eyes on and maybe would leave Alice alone. But what about Alice? What if this new foreigner tells her something that makes her want to go back to her world? And what about me? Would I´ll be forced to play the game again even though I had won the last one and Alice´s heart is mine? No, once a roleholder manages to win the game only he (or she) is affected by the "love the foreigner" rule and the fixation disappears from all the others roleholder´s clock´s, unless love became real..

I also had to consider that the other foreigner would still take part of my precious Alice´s time, so I decided that the best course of action was to hide the info about the new foreigner to Alice until I was sure about the effects of a new game and saw how things were developing.

A few days later Elliot was very anxious because the new foreigner wasn´t being found. It annoyed me because it was interfering with his performance. It surprised me that the foreigner was alive but in an unknown location, by the twins I knew the new foreigner wasn´t at the amusement park and Vivaldi wasn´t hosting her at the castle either, my dear sister even changed the date of her event to prepare better and lure out the foreigner with the ball. That leaved the towers, but mymen hadn´t seen a foreigner there. Now I didn´t have to worry too much, because the options of where else the foreigner might be weren´t pointing to her well being. So it was a good thing I hadn´t told Alice anything, if the new foreigner died (which I was sure would happen soon)…. What Alice didn´t knew would not hurt her.

.

**AT THE BALL:**

.

When we arrived at the ball, after all the boring required greetings, I went to discuss business while Alice went to chat with Vivaldi. I noticed Joker in the far end of the room and ordered Elliot to keep an eye on them both, they were dressed the same, so we didn´t know which one was the Jester and who was the warden, not that it mattered, even for me they were very dangerous. I was glad that Alice hadn´t notice them, I would had to order some faceless to escort her home because none of us role holders could leave the event just like that.

.

Later on Alice came to me with an angry look on her face.

.

- _Why didn´t you tell me that there was another foreigner in wonderland?_

_- **(How unfortunate, she found out)** Oh? Don't be jealous my dear, it's not important since you are the one here._

- _NOT IMPORTANT!? Blood! Of course it is important to me! Another foreigner is someone I can relate to and whom I can be friends with; someone aside all the madness and violence of this world!_

_._

Why was she so upset about something like that?, she didn´t even knew this foreigner, Maybe…. Maybe she was jealous of all the attention the new foreigner was receiving, could it be that she really craved other men attention besides mine!?

.

_- __I thought you were happy and content, certainly you have never complained, in fact you have screamed for more, or are you still trying to lure more men to satisfy your low desires?_

_._

I regretted my words as soon as I uttered them. She turned around to leave. I couldn´t lose her, but I also had to take care of my reputation, so I tried to retain her by the arm but she was very angry, and hurt, she got lose and left me there.

She had exposed me and left me be the center of attention of the eyes off all the other present role holders were upon me as much as the gossips of the faceless. Now I couldn´t go after her.

Instead I turned around and headed to where Elliot was, he saw me and turned to look across the place again where the Jokers where mocking me with their smirks, then we heard the first explosion.

It caught us all by surprise, Vivaldi ordered her guards to go and investigate, then we heard some other explosions coming more or less from the same direction and the knight ran towards the place. I was going to dismissed it because it was heart´s castle´s problem but when I heard Alice scream my blood froze before I darted to the gardens.

Apparently all role holders minus the knight and one of the Jokers had ran towards where we heard her scream, at the distance I saw it. Someone was holding Alice hostage and was retreating into the maze. I was furious! I had been my fault! And if I didn´t get in time….

Then I saw Pierce behind the person and Alice getting away, too bad that ***** managed to get a way. I already had my machine gun ready when someone started to shoot at us and the smoke bombs came, I aimed where that person was and saw how he jumped through the bushes.

After the smoke cleared I looked for Alice but she wasn´t there, then Mary told me that Boris had got her to safety, I was furious, I headed back to the mansion.

When I arrived, the state was in chaos, they attacked my territory too!

.

- **_(Alice almost died and it was my fault. She´s too weak, I can´t let her expose herself, I will keep her safe, and whoever was the imbecile that tried to kidnap her will pay… very dearly indeed….)_**

**_._**

**_._**

* * *

**_._**

**? POV**

**.**

We arrived at a red district in clover´s territory, it took a while because the truck kept circling the territory to make sure no one had followed us, in fact it had been such a long travel that the time has changed already before the truck stopped at the back of a restaurant, we entered though a small service door and walked through a passage that led us to some basement that probably was a block or so away, in the basement we rested for a while before we passed through a hidden door leading to a fancy and expensive looking bar with a table dance nightclub, we went to the upper floor that was even more fancy and looked like some kind of renascence palace.

.

We finally arrived to a common rest and play room where some of the faceless explained some stuff about wonderland to me while another entered an office I supposed belonged to their boss.

.

- So… let me get see If I get this. This is another world, its name is Wonderland and it´s divided in the countries of Hearts, Clover, Diamond and Spades. There are also territories in each country and they are controlled by role-holders, which are the few people here that have eyes and which are kinda strong and powerful and terrifying. Everyone here has have certain function or rol, but roleholders are basic for the function of this world. I am a foreigner **_(nha!, really?... Mental eye´s roll),_** and if I want to go back to my world I must play some kind of game **_(I don´t understand what you mean by that)_** that involves me interacting with the role-holders **_(still don´t get it) . _**Is that it Wedge?

.

Dude #1 was called Wedge, he had tried to explain things to me, unfortunately I didn´t get everything he said, so we went through the general basis first.

.

- _Yeah. Now there are a few other important things you should know, for example, everyone in this world will fall in …. _- He couldn´t finish his sentence because Biggs, dude # 2 came out from the office and kept open the door for me saying that their boss had just arrived and would see me now.

.

I stood up and headed to the office, it was big and elegant, mahogany wood panels gave a touch of distinction making it clear that the business was going well. Their boss was around 40 years, but without a complete face I couldn´t know, he was a bit surprised and examined me when I entered. He was smiling in a content way, apparently something good happened recently and he in my experience it also meant that he thought a way to use me.

.

- _Another foreigner. I would have never though it possible, but here you are, It is a honor. Can I offer you a drink…?_ - He extended his hand and I shacked it firmly, never show any sign of weakness or insecurity.

- _Thank you, a bit of vodka would be welcome, its been a hard day_ – He looked baffled for a moment, I knew that in situations like this they never expected you to accept a drink, and that was in my favor, it made them trust you a little more and made them think that you trust them.

.

He turned around to take out a bottle from the cabinet at this back and put on two glasses on his desk and personally served the drink. The door was still open and everyone was there listening like little kids.

.

- _You seem very different from the other foreigner_ – He passed me the glass and I took a sip without examining it. His smile widened a bit, apparently I had passed some form of test.

- _Another foreigner? I wouldn't know, so far you´re men are the only people I´ve had a conversation with._ – It was true, I normally didn´t bother with lies, however I rarely said all the details.

- _Yes, she arrived a while ago, in the end she choose the hatter._ – By the way he growled the word "hatter" I knew that he had more than simply animosity towards that person, but I was more interested in the "choose" part, I didn´t understand what that meant.- _Oh, did that had something to do with the operation earlier today at the castle? I don´t know what your goal was, but I´m happy that your men were there, I would have been killed if not for you._– I did my best to sound sincerely grateful- _Hell, a guy with a hat and false mouse ears tried to break my neck! **(Thinking about it, the guys I saw coming to greet me were wearing some strange clothes, maybe it was a costume party)**_ - He didn´t bother to study me, apparently the mouse cosplayer was important to this conversation.

- _You are very lucky, that guy is a cleaner working for the hatter, he could have killed you easily. Unfortunately it means that now you are on the hatter´s hit list. And Yes, you are correct the operation earlier today had to with all this. You see, we operate a net of respectable businesses in this area and some other places, we aren´t such a big group and thus the hatters, one of the big mafias in wonderland has been edgy about our expansion and success and has been making things difficult for us. We planned to abduct their foreigner to set up negotiations, but somehow the alarms in the castle started earlier than expected._

_._

Great, I had made enemies with a mafia head I hadn´t even met and got involved in a big operation against him and one of his important men has seen me.

.

- **_(C´mon! Can't I get a break from gang´s, and mafia´s and cartel´s and cold wars?!)_**

**_._**

Im sure that right now he was just about to say what his plan for me was, but suddenly we heard screams and gunshots. A man came running to the room.

.

- _Boss, we are under attack! It's the hatters!_

- _SHIT!_ – The man took a metal suitcase from bellow his desk and screamed – Let's get out of here! -Then he turned to me and handed me the suitcase - _Here, take this! They won't destroy it if you have it! THEY ARE NOT THE HATTERS! I can´t let them find me with this! __If Im caught with them I´m dead meat! _

- _But what is it?_ – I had took it just because he practically shoved into my hands **_(YOUR FU**** TRYING TO ****** USE ME AS SCAPE GOAT! why would I want it!)_**

**_._**

CRASH! the ground shacked. There had been an explosion.

.

Before I could threw the suitcase to the ground or to the man, from the back window came a few shoots that killed him in front of me. The suit case was bullet proof.

I got out from the office, they had not expected an attack, and they have seen how their boss died. They were a chicken without a head.

.

- _What do we do?_ - Wedge then noticed the suitcase in my arms and asked me.

- **_(HOW THE FU** SHOULD I KNOW!)_** – JUST GET AWAY FROM HERE! – If they went away first then I could use them as distractions or human shields, my attire was not meant to resist heavy calibers.

- _Wedge, take this and keep it safe. Now run all of you and cover him! – _For some reason they obeyed me, I didn´t care, if someone saw them running then I could get a change to get away while they were the focus of attention.

.

They went out and I prepared to run.

.

- _FUC*****! / - CHI*********!_

_._

But someone ***** crashed into me.

.

.

* * *

.

**BLACK´S POV**

.

Why the heck was I again carrying this fu**** dead weight of a foreigner back to my lair ? Oh yeah, because this dips*** tried to save my life and helped me somehow? But that doesn´t matter, I´m gonna ***** ***** "interrogate" her later on. Yep, she is a big suspect for crimes, I´m gonna throw her in a cell as soon as I arrive.

.

-_My, my, Joker. Care to explain what happened? My leg is hurting a lot and your humor is very different from the murderous rage you had a little while ago._ – My counterpart finally spoke though our mask.

- _A fu*** building fell over me ._

- _And you´re happy about that? I though I was supposed to be the masochist one. Maybe you can clarify me who were you arguing with though your entire little ordeal?_

.

I put her down (not very gently) and looked at her. She was wearing cargo pants and a tactical vest, bellow that and over her arms I could see she was wearing some kind of plastic armor. She was dirty from all the previous action. She was pale as if she hadn´t received sunlight in a long time, her hair had multiple shades and stripes from the roots, you couldn´t tell if she was blonde or light brunette,a t some point her hair might had been spiky and short, but she had let it grow enough to be held it into a messy pony tail except for her bangs and the part of the base that extended into a thin braid going to her mid back. Her face was a bit rounded and was still bleeding a bit from the big hit and had some other smaller cuts. She was not astoundingly beautiful but she held an air of defiance even while unconscious.

.

_- Shut up. I found the new foreigner._

.

.

**FLASHBACK**

.

How did this ***** happen? It all started in that ****** ball. I hate those ****** events. As soon as we heard the explosion I smiled, I could get away from the stupid ***** to go and find out who had disobeyed the rules and get them in a cell for further torture. It was a ******* serious crime, and they had ****dared to do so in my presence, I was already planning a dreadful torture when the other **** explosions happened and the hatter´s bitch screamed. That´s when me and my counterpart separated, I went to check the explosion with the idiotic knight and my other half went to see what happened to the ***** to amuse himself a bit with the slut´s distress.

I managed to catch one of those ***** dress up as a castle´s guard and forced him to speak, he mentioned one place and was shot by one of his ****** comrades who flipped me the **** bird and shoot himself like the rest of his companions before I got to them, That made me very ******** angry, I didn´t wait for White before storming off to find the **** culprits.

It took me the rest of the time change to find out where the place was and then it took me a ***** while to get to the exact place. I was about to storm in when someone else *********** did.

.

_- *********** ********* ******* (long string of obsenities) !** – NO ONE´S GOING TO KILL MY PREY!_

.

I ran to enter by the back door and moments after, the nearby walls collapsed behind me , some ***** ******* used explosives! This part might have been a support wall, the ***** building might collapse too. So I moved fast away from there.

Inside some a******* tried to shot me but I got him first, there was no one else in my way, so I entered the bar and passed some rooms, all was chaos, everyone was shooting everywhere while the customers tried to run away. I wanted to catch their boss alive and use it as an example, so I went up the stairs to find b***** always had their offices on top.

From the stairs I saw that on the top floor some guys were running away from a room, one of them had a fancy metal suitcase, it was obviously a lackey, that meant that their boss was still in that room, so I ran to catch the ********** before he escaped.

.

I entered the office gun in hand.

.

- _FUC*****! _

- _CHI*********!_

_._

And I crashed into someone.

The impact send me and the person to the floor. I moved to shoot the person and was met with olive green eyes looking back at me.

.

- _Who the fuck are you?!-She snarled.  
_

- _I´m asking you that bitch!_

_._

Just then the ****** floor collapsed bellow us.

.

- _SHIT****!_

- _DEM****!_

_._

The fucking room we had been probably was above the place where I had entered, with no supporting walls bellow, the part of the building where we were fell upon itself.

.

- _What´s happening Joker? - _My counterpart asked via the mask I had at my hip._  
_

- _Not now idiot!_

_._

We landed among the rubrics with a big piece of concrete trapping us together, her left leg and my ***** right one were under a big piece of ***** concrete. She growled and tried to move the debris but was unable to, then she saw something by my side and reached for it before I saw what it was. It was my gun.

.

**BANG!**

.

She somehow moved to position herself on top of me as much as our situation allowed her to and shot. I turned to see a body drop dead while another ass**** ran away. She then tried to move the trapping piece of concrete again.

.

- _Hey jackass! Care to help me with this? _

- _Just push it bitch!_

_._

With my strength it was easy to get us free, but it was obvious that neither one of us was going to be able to walk fine for a while.

I didn´t hear any more noises or gun fire. The raid had ended.

.

- _OH FUCKING SHIT! WE HAVE TO GET OUT!_

_._

She had noticed it before me, smoke was starting to appear in the ceiling coming from another part of the ****** building. We tried to stand up but could only do so on one leg, it was gonna be a pain in the ass getting out of there.

.

She suddenly took my arm and put it over her shoulder across her back and put hers over my back.

_._

_- What the fuck do you think you´re doing !?_

_- I'm trying to get us out of here alive, fu***tard!_

.

I understood it, we´d have to rely on each other for support in order to get out before we got roasted alive.

.

NEVER in my life had I´ve been in a situation that required me to physically rely on someone, not even my counterpart. And this bitch does it so naturally, did she even know who I was? Probably not, otherwise she would have tried to run away or kill me there. What a dumb ***** Why is she trusting me with her life right now?

.

_- Jerkasss –_ she mumbled

_- Bitch -_ I answered, but neither one of us has had any real animosity in the voice.

.

We were finally out of the place and out of view, **_(LIKE HELL WOULD I ALLOW ANYONE TO SEE ME RIGHT NOW)_,** we rested on an dark alley, she had been coughing a lot, I guess she inhaled too much smoke.

.

_- Just who the hell are you?_

.

But she had passed out.

.

* * *

.

**What do you think will happen next? **

**Do you like it so far?**

**Please review and tell me what do you think, are my description too complicated or to swallow? , Would you like to know or see something in particular? Do I have way to many grammatical and orthographical errors?**

**And another thing, was this chapter too long?**

**.**

**.**


	6. Chapter 6

** Still with documents problems. Does anyone uses double spaces or something?**

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

.

.

**WHITE´S POV**

.

I watched her leave, slightly limping away from the circus premises til she disappeared on the road, I turned and transported myself to the prison to meet my counterpart.

.

_-Seems like things might get amusing._

_-(__**Huff) **__How is it possible. A mind like that… Is she even from the same world as Alice?  
_

.

My counterpart was still a bit shaken from the impossibility of our discovery. Who would have guessed that someone´s mind could exist in such state? we didn´t know if it actually counted as a mind at all! At first I didn´t care but to amuse me, but now... now she has gained my curiosity. I want to know more.

.

-How is she … I don´t even know the f**** word… thinking? Functioning? Is that why Nightmare or us couldn´t enter her dreams? does she dreams?

.

I had to agree with myself. She has the strangest mind we have ever seen. She didn´t have real memories.

.

When Black limped his way back he immediately faded to the prison, I was already waiting for him and had ordered a room to be prepared for our "guest". From what Black had told me via our masks she was hurt but he didn´t know to what extent. he couldn´t waste time in examining her on the road and risk someone seeing them.

When he appeared I scowled, he was half dragging an ugly bulk that I supposed was the foreigner and he didn´t look good either. Now I´ll have to do his rounds, no way is Joker showing the prisoners any wound or weakness.

.

-_I look like a wrench!_ – I circled him to examine the situation better -_How did I end up in such a state? _

_._

My other half growled and allowed me to revise his memories of tonight. It made me angry to think that those mongrels had escaped and that I had to scurry my way back to my territory careful to not let anyone see me **_(it would have been embarrassing if someone saw Joker in such state)._**

.

_-Help me with this flesh bag. She´s heavier than she looks_- He shoved her to me and went away to his room to check on himself.

.

I put her over the bed and examined her. She didn´t look peaceful at all, she looked more pissed than anything, even in her unconscious state. **_(Why that expression my dear?)_**

.

_-He´s right, you're quite heavy for a girl.- _I noticed her vest and took it off to put in on chair nearby, the reason she was heavy was because she was carrying a bunch of heavy stuff. I looked at her once more.

.

How different is this foreigner to Alice, she didn´t look as pathetically frail, this one at least seem to carry some muscles under her skin, but she didn´t deceived me, I know foreigner are weak.

I couldn´t decide how I was going to play with this toy. Should I try to make her trust me and then crush her? Should I lock her up here in a cell and let the other role holders know I had her to see if they dare to rescue her? Perhaps I could simply rape her to see for myself how weak a foreigner really was? Or maybe I could torture her mentally til she killed herself?

.

-_So many options._ – I grinned.

.

She had dried blood on her head and I remembered that she was supposed to have a wounded leg. I couldn´t play with her in the ways I had though if she was too hurt and died, now could I?

I merrily stripped her off her belt and all the amusing bags she carried there, I took off her boots (**_combat boots?) _**and then of her cargo pants which were even heavier than her vest and saw the strange armored suit she was wearing bellow.

.

_-What are you, a nun with armor catsuit fetishes?_

.

What was she wearing? It looked like some kind of black plastic armor mixed with a diving suit, it was ticker on all non-joint parts and looked as heavy as her pants and vest together, probably even more, It even has some extra plaques covering many parts (at least from how bulky the chest area is I deduce she has big breasts) but I could not see buttons or zippers.

.

-_Careful with her arm, she has blades in them.-_ Black tried to mock me but he was the one with a cut on his neck. He had gotten that when he brought her back. That explained why he had dragged her in such a way rather than carry her in a more gentlemanly way, her leg wasn´t so bad for what i could see, but she might have other funny tricks hidden

.

-(**_oh? This is interesting_**).

.

I examined her arm and saw a blackened razor edge (**_This can cut a neck if done properly_**) protuberating slightly and running to the end of the handcuff where it joined her gloves,those didn´t seemed to be part of the suit and to my fascination I discovered that she indeed had a blade ready to jump from the back of her hand (**_careful or you might poke someone's eyes with this_**). The suit had like 4 layers, one of them, the closest one to the skin moved as if it had liquid inside **_(I wonder if she´s wearing anything bellow_**). This thing was designed for combat **_(Why would a foreigner have all this)._**

**_._**

Black finished drying his hair after the quick bath he had taken, he was wearing his pants and his shirt was open , he came to the other side of the bed and loomed over her, he took off his eye patch and forced open one of her eyes.

.

-_Oh? Are we so curious with her already that were´re going to violate her privacy so soon?_

_._

He didn´t bother to answer me when I joined him to enter her mind to see her memories.

.

-_Huh?_

.

We should be seeing her memories, but we ended up in what her mind scape would look like. I would of course never admit it, but It unnerved me a little. It also made me curious. Mindscapes were like galleries were we could see a person's memories, even if memories were forgotten, damaged or even shattered, we could see them or their parts, however this place was empty of them. It was a big white room with panels where the lines running around them carried little streaks of light (**AUTHOR´S NOTE: imagine a portal empty test chamber**).

.

_-Damn!_

.

Black had started walking around when he hit face first an invisible wall, then in the invisible wall an image stated forming that had unintelligible writing in it with little pictures (**AUTHOR´S NOTE: imagine a transparent monitor screen**), it curiously touched one of the little images and in the invisible wall appeared a document, or rather the image of one. It was in a language I didn´t knew, so I couldn´t read it, I started pocking around the image and notice I could drag it around with a touch of my finger, I must had done something because it disappeared and showed me the original images. Black was at my side while I Played around with the images on the wall, I was already getting bored when another document appeared, this one I could read and I did so aloud.

.

_" Calling out a simplified version of the string theory for other dummies that are not adept at quantum mechanics and whom I don´t care about explaining things properly, the key factors of the string theory that attempts to reconcile general relativity (__**gravity doesn´t exist ***** ****!)**__ With quantum physics may include:_

_._

_A normally impossible to comprehend __**(unless you´re actually smart)**__ assertion that all objects in our universe are composed of vibrating filaments (strings) and membranes (branes) of energy. A new connection (called supersymmetry) exists between two fundamentally different types of particles, bosons and fermions, allowing us (or whomever did so) to theorize that several extra __**(usually unobservable, duh!)**__ dimensions to the universe must exist __**(that´s why you can´t see or reach them dumb***) **__In some cases for the imaginative mind what exists are different world in the same universe, different worlds connected by a another universe, different universes connected by a specific world or whatever a sci-fi geeks may try to explain and can´t because said geek must likely does not know about real science._

_Other possibilities include:_

_._

_A landscape of string theory solutions, allowing for possible parallel universes, The holographic principle, which states how information in a space can relate to information on the surface of that space. The anthropic principle, which states that scientists can use the fact that humanity exists as an explanation for certain physical properties of our universe. That our universe could be "stuck" on a brane, allowing for new interpretations of string theories, etc… "_

_._

What the hell was this? I didn´t understood it, but it was definitely not a memory, were there no memories here? That would be impossible! Even the memories from a coma vegetable are still there!

.

_-Look at this._

.

Black had found the edges of the transparent wall and was at the other side. I went to see whatever he was seeing. A lot of images appeared on his side. I saw hundreds of corpses being burned, places destroyed beyond recognition, thousands of people fighting and protesting for something, burning buildings, old people begging for help on the streets, kids dying out of hunger, hanged mutilated corpses from bridges... I also saw some beautiful art pieces and landscapes, some magnificent animals and architectonic jewels. But this were not memories, I was seeing them as if she had seen them but not experienced them.

Suddenly the entire place shacked out of existence for a moment, and then we saw a part of a "memory" for lack of a better word. She was speaking with someone we couldn´t see:

.

-_You´re really an inhuman monster, girly._

.

She responded in that robotic and distorted voice I heard through Black´s mask.

.

-_So? I´ll help you with those "errands". Better for you if I can´t be emotionally coerced, and please call me "Vector"._

_._

Another shake of the room and this time the place she was seemed like a rundown building, there were several armed people in there.

.

-_Who are you?-_ The apparent leader asked.

-_My current code is Monochrome rainbow, Mr wild geese. I brought you some intel…_

-_Monochrome rainbow? Sounds like a stupid code name._ – Another one said.

-_It´s because I´ve been told that I´m supposed to be between Black and White. But that is unimportant and I don´t understand it. Shut up and listen. There´s a shipment…_

_._

One more shake and the place started to fade away completely.

It was a syringe nearing her open eye, under a bright light, and she had been awake.

.

_-She´s waking up_

_-Let´s get out. We can check later._

_._

_._

.

**.**

* * *

**? POV**

**.**

I woke up slowly but as always I didn´t opened my eyes right away, I wanted to attest the situation as much as I could first. And my first impression was that everything hurt.

.

_-You think she´s got brain damage or something?_

_-Maybe._

.

That voice… both voices sounded the exact same, as a person talking to himself. I recognized the voice from the red head I had cooperated with to escape the building. I couldn´t sense myself restrained but wherever I was lying I felt weights on my sides.

.

-(**_Well, may the worst come fast and end even faster.)-_** I opened my eyes and saw the guy **_(and his twin? ) _**looming over me at my sides. Then I proceed to see my surroundings.

.

I didn´t though about it, such process have become automatic, it took me only an electric impulse in my system to process everything. I wasn´t restrained in a cell or laboratory, I was in a bed, my pants are vest were in a chair, my boots were probably at the side of the bed and I wasn´t dead.

.

This situation obviously played in my favor, it meant that if they planned something for me they wanted me alive and well, so I could take a pill and rest more before anything and give my body a change of slight recovery. I raised myself to a somewhat sit position and look at the one of the screens in my arm to run a physical status reading.

.

They were a bit surprised at my action or rather at my screen. I took the chance to put my gadgets into passive mode **(they have been active though this... well, i still have enough battery fora a few days),** and start the deep rest phase.

.

**_-(Good, nothing is broken,I´m just a bit swollen. It´ll take a week or so to recover enough)_**

.

I ran my hand through my wounded leg and opened up the side zip lock that closed the upper layers of my suit to let my leg release the pressure from my feet to my knee. Then from a few compartments in the plaques of the leg I took out some pills and swallowed them without water. Then I laid back again and went to sleep for as long as I could.

.

.

* * *

.

**BLACK´S POV**

.

After getting out of her mind **_(or lack of it_**) we observed her for a few minutes until I asked:

.

_-You think she´s got brain damage or something?_

-_Maybe._ – answered my counterpart.

.

She opened her eyes and looked at us, then she ignored us and looked around the room. She blinked and then tried to sit up,she pressed her arm and the plastic cover over her plastic armor on her forearm lighted like the invisible wall we saw in her mind, she saw something there and then turned it off. Then she opened up that and out of somewhere in that plastic wrap she took out some pills and ate them. After that she went back to sleep.

.

_-She doesn´t **** fucking know who I am, does she?_

_-No, she doesn´t. She´s still breathing, those weren't "suicide" pills"._

.

.

**_A FEW TIME CHANGES LATER._**

**_._**

.

She had been asleep for 9 ****** time changes when she finally woke up.

.

The after image I had left to keep guard and watch over her told me she had woke up. I went to check on her, but she wasn´t in the bed, I heard water running from the small bathroom _(how can she be so trusty? She doesn't even know where she is and she goes like nothing to take a bath? ),_ I waited for her to finish. When she came out, her hair was still wet and she was shaking it with a towel, she was wearing that strange armor suit but it seemed clean now. She was still limping when she came near.

.

-_How can someone sleep for so ******** long?_ - She stopped her drying attempts and looked inquisitively at me. She probably was a few years older than Alice and taller too, just half a head shorter than me and it appeared that she had some curves under that thing she was wearing.

.

_-Oh, its you…. Mmhhh….That someone can if she is very tired. You´re one those role-holders, right?_

-_Yes, and those pills had nothing to do with sleeping. I am Joker, and you who are?_

-_A foreigner it seems. Although I´m still not sure what people mean by that besides that I come from other world or something. Those pills were just an average anti-inflammatory, some pain killers and your everyday soldier pills, though I might have swallowed a long sleep pill too. Hey… I heard I need to play a game or something to get back to my world…?_

_-The game of hearts. You are playing it already._ – She had gone straight to the point, I liked that, no useless chit-chatting.

_-How is that?_

_-You already drank the potion to start the game dimwit. You should have a vial with you… a strange glass bottle…?_

_._

She blinked two times and then somehow undid the plaques over her chest revealing another part of layer of black plastic thing pressing her breasts down **_(she must have big tits),_** then from some compartment between her breasts in the armor she took out a vial.

.

_-You mean this? I accidentally drank it. How did it appear on me anyways?_

_._

Her vial looked like the one Alice had, except that the cap had the spades symbol. It had already regained a drop or two **_(has she met another roleholder?... wait, she kept that in between her tits?)._**

.

_-You ***** kept that in there?_

_-It's not as if I have that many pockets where a glass bottle is safe from breaking, even if I´m in a collapsing building. So what do I do with this?_

_-You need to interact with people here and it will fill up again, when it´s full you drink it and go home. – _She gave a disbelieving look and observed the vial.

_-Well, I´ve already seen stranger stuff. It looks like I´m gonna stay in this world for a while, huh? Do you know at what rate this fills up?. _She closed her eyes and seemed to ponder something before she continued - _You can call me Aria._

_-Aria? What a lovely name, if that IS your name._ - White had appeared and entered the room.

.

Aria... We had entered a few times her mind, every image worse than the last, not even us have ever seen such destruction, misery, corruption and despair, we never could see those pseudo memories more than once, we figured out that they were being created in that instant and then they ceased to exist, and every single time she used her name or someone referred to her the name or code she used changed.

.

_-I never said it was my name. But it will do_ – She looked at him and then at me - _Maybe I wasn´t seeing double._

_-Or maybe you were… -_ White was content that she had finally woken up.

-_Of course the change of me going crazy, being severely drugged, receive brain damage from the fall of debris, and even being dying and all this be the last hallucination is just as possible, or maybe you´re just twins._ – She nonchalantly said.

_- It surprises me that you didn´t mention this world being just a dream._ – White said- _But we are not twins._

_- We ArE tHe SaMe PeRsOn, We ArE JoKeR_

_-Can you prove it? Or rather, would you let me test it?_

-_The ******** with you, woman!_ – I had gotten impatient.

_-Sorry, is just that I´m used to not believe anything unless proven back in my world. I believe in evidence. Besides… I don´t dream._

-_It´s alright, you can call me White and him Black to distinguish us. And talking about evidence… You were part of the attack at hearts castle during an event, were you not? That is a serious crime here._ – White´s eye was gleaming from anticipation.

_-Not really, I just happened to be there by change for an issue not related to such attack. _

_-But then you were at the base of those *****._ – I added

_-By chance too. Just my luck I guess. But you seem more concerned about the time of the attack rather than the attack itself. Is the castle your territory or something?_

_-FUCKING NO! _

_._

White proceeded to explain some of the rules about events in this world, and that we were in charge of both the circus and the prison, and that we kept everyone in line. He obviously omitted how we achieved that.

.

_-Now, can you tell us what you were doing in that inconvenient place at such inconvenient time? We wouldn´t like to have to lock you up_ – White had tried to subtly intimidate her but it just slid out of her, maybe she knew that we didn´t have "jurisdiction" over foreigners **_(nha, she simply didn´t get it)._**

_-I went to look out for info about this world, I heard that the best library was in that castle and the party seemed like a good chance to get unnoticed. However that didn´t end so well. I found myself being chased by the guards, then tried to get away but had to use a human shield… lost my breath mask… ended up in a truck and finally in that building that got attacked. When I tried to escape I bumped into you and you know the rest. _– She shrugged like it wasn´t such an issue. -_Do you by any change know a guy, short, was wearing a costume with mouse ears during the party, tried to twist my neck…._

_-The gravedigger… he is working at the amusement park lately __**(How would that coward react to almost killing the new foreigner? )**_

_- I guess I´ll have to go and ask back my equipment._

_._

We talked for a while, maybe an hour or two, she asked lots of questions about everything, it was annoying. Like a brat asking all those whys and hows, White however was curious.

.

I had expected her to freak out when an after image appeared to tell that some prisoners were doing a ruckus, but she got ****** fascinated by it! I leaved to beat the ******* of those ****** and White offered to give hear a tour of the circus.

.

She was amazed at the "teleportation", then I heard her pained scream when White opened the tent and light hit her. For an instant I was almost about to go there to see what happened. Almost…

.

_-ARRRGHHH!_

_-Are you ok? _

_-Too… bright. Sorry I'm not used to sunlight._

.

.

.

* * *

**No POV**

.

After her scream she retreated to the inside of the tent and took out some dark and bulky goggles as dark as welding glasses to put on, and a piece of fabric with the image of the lower half of a skull to cover the lower half of her face.

.

_-Ready, let´s go. _

_-Ok…. If you say so_- White didn´t knew if be surprised, amused or annoyed, so he simply ignored the situation and went on with the tour, during it he noticed that she was limping rather pathetically but he didn´t comment on it. He wanted to see how long it would take her to beg for rest, yet she never did. Ultimately he took her to the entrance of the circus and pointed her in the direction of the amusement park.

.

-_Be careful Miss Aria, and if you require a place to stay you are welcome to come back here._ – White told her, conveniently forgetting to tell her that she might have accidentally be on the other role holder´s black list already.

.

-_Thank you, I´ll consider it. _

_._

And off she went.

.

* * *

**. Please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Does anyone uses the "insert horizontal line" button in the document editor toi insert line breaks?**

* * *

**.**

**CHAPTER 7**

**.**

* * *

She had been walking for a while in the direction of the amusement park until she was probably halfway there. Only then did she stop to rest.

She took a painkiller and checked her leg, it was sore but It would heal fine, if she rested as needed in a few days she would stop limping completely. Her knee had been hurting a lot during the tour around the circus, but no way was she going to ask for a rest and made herself a prey in front of that man. From the first time she saw both of them she knew that they were like hungry wolves and would prey on her at the first sign of weakness, she knew the type, she was one too. Besides, she could not trust them, when she got up she ran a status exam on herself and found a weird lecture on her psyche; they had tried to mess with her mind. She didn´t know if brain/mind scanners existed in this world, but she wasn´t fond of those of her own world even if they were useless against her, her mind was already too messed up as it was.

She waited for the pain killers to make effect and continued her way.

.

* * *

**AT THE AMUSEMENT PARK**

**.**

* * *

The time change had passed unto afternoon and the visitors were leaving. Boris, the Cheshire cat, had been grumpy since he learned that the new foreigner had threatened Alice and wondered why but couldn´t find an answer to that, he had expected the new foreigner to appear so that he could ask her personally but said foreigner had disappeared again, and not even Nightmare could contact her. So he discharged his frustration by bullying and had chasing Pierce, the dormouse, all around the were in the outskirts of the park and he was finally catching up with the panicked Pierce when said role holder made a turn and followed by the cat both crashed into someone..

.

_-EEEKKKK!_

_-ARGGHHH!_

_-UFFGGGGhh!_

_._

The person moved from underneath them and suddenly grabbed the mouse´s ear and started to pull it and check it.

.

-_EEkkk! Leave alone!_ – The mouse took out his knife.

_-How can this ears be functional?!_ – The person exclaimed in a distorted female voice.

.

Boris saw that the person was wearing cargo pants and a vest full of pockets, she was wearing dark goggles and had half her face was covered. Maybe the other role holders didn´t saw Alice´s captor well, but he was a cat, his sight was excerpt. He recognized her. This was the new foreigner.

.

.

* * *

**BORIS POV**

**.**

_-You! You are the new foreigner!- _I was surprised, she didn´t look like a foreigner should, she didn´t look like a woman. She looked bulky and rash, that night I saw her at a distance, but now that I am close I can recognize her, she truly is the one that attacked Alice.

_._

Pierce and the foreigner stopped and looked at him, the mouse turned around to face "her" and his blade disappeared.

.

-_I´m sorry. Chu!(**I tried to kill a foreigner again, chu**!)_

_-huh?_ – She moved her goggles up and looked at them with curiosity- _What are you?_

.

It was a somewhat awkward moment, but it solved quickly and presentations were done on the roleholders part. She was confused with the animal features and had examined the mouse´s skull. Alice had been confused the first time too. BUçut it got weird when she asked if we had any other "features" besides the ears, I got a bad feeling when she spot our tails.

.

_-You can call me Rondo. I´m actually here to get back my gas mask- _She then looked at Pierce_- Unless you wanna try to kill me._

_-Im sorry chu! I did´t knew you were a foreigner!_

_._

She paused for a second.

.

_-Would it have mattered if I wasn´t a foreigner?_

_-Of course, chu! Foreigners are important! Faceless doesn´t matter._

_._

She narrowed her eyes a bit (_**maybe she´s like Alice and values lives too), f**_oreigners somehow value lives no matter how useless.

.

-_As I said, I´m just here for my stuff, so please give it back and I´ll be on my way._

_-Gowland has that helmet thingy. Why do you want to leave so soon, chu?_

_._

I decided to intervene before the rat messed things up more.

.

_-Ignore the rat, c´mon, let´s go see Gowland._

_-Who´s Gowland?_

_-Mary´s the park owner._

_._

She reluctantly agreed and let me guide her.

.

**END POV.**

* * *

**.**

**IN GOWLAND´S OFFICE**

**.**

**.**

_-So you are the new foreigner. You caused quite the stir at the castle during the event._

_-I already told Joker that I got involved on accident.  
_

_-YOU MET JOKER!_

_._

The tree role holders screamed and paled, Pierce even cowered bellow the table.

.

-_Yeah, I guess I´ll have to explain again, I´m getting tired of it, so I´ll give the short version. I was at the castle looking for a book, got chased by guards, tried to escape, saw that girl and used her to get a chance of escaping. Mouse here appeared, smoke bombs came, I ended in a truck to a building that was attacked by a mafia group and met Joker._

_-And after that?_- Boris was the first one to figure out that it was not the end of the story, for what he knew she had disappeared for a dozen time changes or so since the party.(_**But she mentioned Joker) **_He shivered a bit when she mentioned Joker **_-(Had she been a prisoner?)._**

**_._**

_-So you trying to harm Alice was a mistake?_ – Gowland asked already convinced that it was a huge misunderstanding.

_-I guess Alice was that girl I used as a shield, I wasn´t trying to harm her,she was just there. Is she a role holder too?_

_-No, she is another foreigner, chu. Have you…Have you been at the circus since then?_

_-No, I was at the prison._

_._

Gowland´s eyes widened, Boris ear´s flattened against his skull and Pierce shriek. They didn´t say anything but imagined the worst. Pierced launched himself to hug her tightly and tried to give her a kiss in the cheek.

.

_-Chu!_

_-HEY! WHAT THE! GET OFF ME! WHAT THE ***** IS WRONG WITH YOU!_

.

More silence filled the room. After her fourth attempt to pry of Pierce´s hug she succeeded.

Gowland thought that she was in some state of shock and trauma due to being held in the prison. She probably needed to be cheered up, and music always was good for that. Out of nowhere he took out his violin and gave a horrible note to start. As soon as the "music" started, Boris and Pierce disappeared, Gowland played an entire "song" and by the end of it the girl had her hair crisped and her grip on the sofa was as tight as if her life depended on it, her goggles were beside her and her face wasn´t covered anymore, her expression probably resembled like that of an animal seing a bright light in the middle of a lonely road at night and about to get roadkilled.

.

_-Sup? What do you think?_ – Gowland asked happily.

-I think you´d be better off playing a synthesizer, but for that song… I think that it needs drums! Maybe a bass would be good too. (**Authors note: girl what have you done!**).

.

Gowland was delighted, his music was so awesome that no one could hear an entire song before they ran away in tears after being overwhelmed by the beauty of the sound, this girl was the first person to enjoy an entire piece.

.

_-You seriously think so?_

_-Yes, definitely, really loud drums to assert the rhythm **(and drown the sound)** and a bass to provide a background for the main melody **(and muffle it)**…. That was... nice, but I must get going, I only came to get back my helmet, so If you give it back to me I´ll be on my way._

_._

_-So soon? But you haven´t really visited my place._

_-Can´t be helped, the park was already closing when those 2 dragged me here and now is already close._

_-But that means that you didn´t try any ride!_

_-It´s been many years since I went to an amusement park, I doubt I´m missing anything, I´m just here for my stuff._

_-That´s unacceptable! I´ll tell you what. I´ll give it back to you after you spent an entire day enjoying my park and try my best rides, what do you say?_

_-Even if I passed the entire day I wouldn´t be seeing much, waiting lines are long and it´s not that I can spare that much money._

_-Of course It´ll be possible! Here take this! It´s a platinum pass, with this you can come whenever you want all paid and you can skip all the lines._

_-Aahhh…. Thank you? But…. Time already changed._

_-That is no problem!_

_._

Gowland raised the arc of his violin and made a floritude, immediately it was day again.

.

_-HOW THE ************ DID THAT HAPPENED!?_

_- I just changed the daytime, now we can go enjoy the rides. Uff, It tired me a little more than usual but it´s still easier than it was years ago._

_-But how!? Are we in an environmental dome? Set illumination? Remote controlled light screens!?..._

.

.

* * *

.

**Rondo´s POV**

.

I am just too tired to do anything. Gowland dragged me all around the place and I think we actually saw everything, a new record he said. It was Boris who noticed my limping, thanks to that we stopped before I collapsed, Gowland was very apologetic and insisted on me staying for the night, oddly there was even a room I could use, which is where I am right now, I didn´t even bothered to took off my boots or bags or even set a proximity alarm or anything, if they wanted to kill me they could have already done so.

Questions plague my mind, ¿How is possible for someone to change the time of the day?, ¿How can the time of the day change with almost no transition and at random?,¿How can those guys animal traits?, ¿What am I going to do?... so many questions, but right now I´m too tired to think, I´ll just sleep.

.

.

* * *

**Pierce´s POV**

.

The next day I went on to check her and apologize for almost killing her two times, even if she was scary and had pulled my ears. I knocked on her door but no one responded, so I "slid" in and saw that she was lying on the bed, with all her strange clothes still on, I was afraid she was dead, so I got close and saw she was breathing, I then heard a bum-bum sound, a heart, her heart. The sound was muffled slightly by her heavy clothing, but I could still hear it fine. It was beating at a slight but rhythmic pace, it was soothing, I wanted to stay there and listen for a while.

.

_-What are you doing rat?_

_-EEEEKKKK!_ – I screamed at the top of my lungs

.

_-WHOA! Careful with that!_

We moved in time to avoid being hit, I could smell ozone in the air, the thing was electrified.

.

* * *

**BORIS POV**

.

Yesterday was a fun day. She is very different from Alice, I don´t know if that´s good or bad. When I found her _**(at least the rat was useful for something)**_ I was still debating how to react, she had threatened Alice at the ball and I didn´t like that, I also didn´t like how she didn´t seem to care at all. She had even seem bothered. Then she mentioned that she ended up in the prison with Joker, that explained her defensive and distrustful attitude... and her hurt leg. I noticed it, it was just a slight limp every few steps, she dissimulated it quite well, maybe this time Joker didn´t stop at mentally torturing the foreigner… I didn´t want to think about it. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

.

_**-(It was a good thing that Mary prohibited the rat to tell anyone that the new foreigner was the one that threatened Alice, good that I scare that wuss to promise it.)**_

_**.**_

I don´t know how she escaped the horrible noise Gowland calls music. But she must be crafty if she managed to convince Mary to stop, Mary even was happy enough to give her a platinum pass. I joined them and we went to all the rides, she enjoyed them, but she didn´t laugh or scream even in the scariest one, poor girl, she probably was traumatized.

I also was skeptical, she was physically very different from Alice, she looked study I guess, and the strange thing she was wearing, it looked heavy; It made me a bit nervous. But perhaps I just a bit edgy about the castle´s incident, in the end we had a lot of fun and she must had enjoyed it a lot because even though she was barely standing she kept without saying anything, so it was I who had to call quits and point her status to Mary.

I wanted to ask her a few things, so in the morning I went to check on her but found the rat near her listening to her heart. How dare he!?

.

-_What are you doing rat?_- I asked in a very threatening tone.

_-EEEEKKKK!_

.

I moved in time to avoid a hit from something, a second later the smell of electricity reached me and I saw that she was holding an electric rot, she was expressionless._-WHOA! Careful with that!_

.

_-Look what you did idiot! You woke her up!_ – I scowled at the rat

_-Excuse me miss Rondo!_

.

She then turned to look at me and at the rat, she blinked a few times and yawned.

.

_-whas shoooo shaaannnn apppsss….?_

.

She wasn´t really that awake yet.

.

.

* * *

.

**Boris seems to be very keen on appearances, and comparing her to Alice, and why is the girl giving up different names? and have you noticed that she starts with the foul language only when she´s exited or in dare situations?  
**

**stay tune for the next chapter**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

**.**

**Rondo´s POV**

**.**

I woke up when I heard some high-pitched screech and there were Pierce and Boris in my room laughing, apparently I had tried to hit them with my baton a second ago when I was half asleep. I couldn´t understand what caused their laugh, I could have hurt them badly, not that I wanted to, it was just a natural response I developed since a few years ago when things became more risky and dangerous, better to hit first than being unable to hit at all.

We went with Gowland and had a brief breakfast, during which he passed me my helmet as promised.

.

-_This is quite interesting, the double filter is quite complex and I supposed the wiring connects to that thing on your neck right? If you did that perhaps you can consider working here and help me with the I can´t figure out is why were you wearing this thing and what other devises you are using. Why would you need them?_

The marquis (I learned that during breakfast) was looking me straight in the eyes.

.

-I_ts complex because it must filter a bunch of shit in the air **(from normal pollution to biological treats)**, and what I´m wearing is because I like to survive, thank you very much. As for work I`ll think about it, maybe_ – I responded a bit dry.

_-Survive?_ – Boris now asked curiously

.

I didn´t want to tell them much, so I decided it had been enough, I ignored his question and asked one myself.

.

_-I still have many questions about this world; there are just so many things …. Like the game I´m in, the vial, and other stuff. Can you tell me anything? or Do you know where can I know more?_

_-Hadn´t you spoke to Nightmare?_ – Gowland asked me, but there was something behind his words I couldn´t figure out.

_-Who?_

-_He´s the master of Clover tower, chu! I like him, he can help you sleep or contact you in dreams! He knows a lot. –_ Pierce merrily said.

_-Then I guess I need to pay him a visit._ – I thank them and rose up to leave, it was clear they wouldn´t tell me anything usefull.

_-Wait!_ – Gowland stopped me- _It might be wise if you changed your clothes, so far we are the only roleholders that know that you were the one that night at the castle, maybe it would be best if you don´t tell anyone that either. I don´t think anyone saw what you were wearing because of the coat, but maybe you can change at least that vest._

_._

I wasn´t exactly planning of screaming it to the four winds, but he was right, the less conflicts the better for me and my clothes were indeed very noticeable. I´ll have to change my vest and hide my helmet mask too, I can also leave more of my gadgets _**(I won't need meteorological analysis equipment anyways) **_I´ll put it with my camel backpack and retrieve it later, I´m going to clover tower anyways, a little detour would not hurt.

I thanked them and leaved the place after they pointed the way to clover.

.

.

* * *

**SOMEWHERE IN CLOVER**

.

I had already hid as much as I could and took what I needed. I required a small break to ponder what my questions would be, so I stopped at a café, along the way I had bought a light jacked to cover the upper part of my suit but I had kept my cargo pants. Since I wasn´t trying to hide anymore I started to attract slight attention from the faceless on the streets, they were looking at me and whispering among themselves. I was drinking my coffee when a man seated in front of me.

.

_-Hello Miss, it´s me Biggs._ – I looked at him and barely recognized him.

_-Hi, how´s it? Did everyone managed to get out?_ – I asked him casually.

_-At least our group did, we´ve been looking out for you since then_ – He said nervously and scratched the back of his head while looking around.

_-And why is that?_ – I questioned him with suspicion.

_-Well miss….mmhhh…. can we speak about it somewhere else?_ – He put money on the table for my coffee and wishfully tended his hand to help me get up.

.

I was suspicious, but my curiosity won over and I followed him for two or three streets before I made him follow me to a lone alleyway, I activated my radar and checked before looking at him.

.

_-Ok Biggs, spill it, I don´t sense anyone in a hearing range._

.

He was a bit confused but complied with a little nervous and babbling tone.

.

_-Well… the boss´s clock was lost and he hadn´t been replaced and the rules say that a boss needs to be found in a few days, but we are not bosses and Wedge has tried but he can´t really manage even when you gave him the suitcase and since you gave him the suitcase because the boss gave you the suitcase we thought that maybe you can be our boss, no one has ever had a foreigner as a boss and it might be a good idea and..._

_._

I stared at him with a deadpan look **_(What does a clock have to do with replacements or anything?)._**

.

_-I didn´t understand a single thing you said._

.

He then put a finger to his chin and happily said :

.

_-We want you to be our boss._

.

He seemed happy to have found out a way to say what he meant to say. I however was not amused, I already had enough troubles and I would eventually leave.

.

_-No._

.

I said and turned around to leave but he put himself in front of me and begged**_ (that is just so pathetic... it wont convince me... not at all... maybe I´ll listen a bit more)_**. He was about to cry, seriously, he then started to count the benefits and claim loyalty and whatnot. I have to admit that some of the benefits were quite good, but I wasn´t interested in a full time job that could get me killed very fast**_ (as if my normal jobs weren´t like that already_**), on the other hand I DID needed to find a job while I stayed in Wonderland, so, in one moment of brilliance I thought of a deal that would be beneficial to both.

.

_-And what about if the organization hires me as a part time high executive business consultant?_

_._

Biggs smiled from ear to ear and thanked me, Im not sure he understood what I said, but he lead the way once again till we reached a small casino.

.

**_- (Seems like my little detour won´t be so little.)_**

.

.

* * *

**.**

**Around a DOZEN changes later**

.

I was finally at the clover tower, once there I presented myself and after saying I was a foreigner they opened the door and I was immediately led to the top of the tower. When the maid opened the door to announce me I saw two grown men arguing like little kids, one had short black hair and a lizard tattoo on his neck and the other had silver hair and an eye patch and was cowering behind really big stacks of paperwork while the other tried to give him even more piles of paper.

I hadn´t seen such waste of paper since even before the war actually broke out, heck, I cringe at the deforestation. I couldn´t control myself after seeing such mess and I raised my finger to point and exclaimed really high in indignation.

.

_-Tree killer!_

_-Oh the new foreigner!_ – marked the silver haired guy.

.

Both men turned around to look and the one behind the counter took the change to run from behind his desk while the other looked shocked and grabbed my extended arm, he then dragged me out of the room and onto another room, there we crossed a door and then entered another room and repeated this a few time until we entered a room where a guy with long blue hair was seated behind a working table with a clock in his hands. The man didn´t bother to look up to see what was happening, but his expression was of real annoyance.

Meanwhile the man that had dragged me around locked the door with a key (while coughing up sickly) and had took a hold of my arm again and was dragging me to the other door.

.

_-Sorry Jul!_

_-Hi Julius I brought more clocks! …. Oh? What happened to Nightmare?_

.

The silver haired dude was about to open the door when it opened and hit him hard on the face with enough force to send him to the floor a meter or so away, the guy ended up unconscious with his nose bleeding a lot. Then the guy that opened the door just started laughing, he was wearing a bloodied cloak, I recognized him as the guy I had followed out of the woods when I arrived at wonderland, he looked at me and took of his mask and the cloak, letting me see his brown-red eyes that matched the long red ragged coat that he was wearing.

.

_-Oh! Hi. There, nice to meet you, I´m Ace! Are you the new foreigner?_ – The brunette passed over the fallen guy and presented himself.

.

I looked at the guy on the floor, then at the smiling brunette and lastly at the guy with blue hair, I blinked twice and then repeated the action, a smile graced my lips as I struggled not to laugh _**(Don´t laugh, I don´t want to creep them with my laugh).**_

.

_-Yep, You can call me Scherzo._ – Then I looked at the guy with blue hair – _Nice to met you Ace. And you are?_

_-Julius Monroey…_ - He adjusted his glasses and turned back to what he was doing.

.

Ace walked up to him and placed the bloody bag he was carrying on the table, I could see that it was full of clocks, the clocks… that still puzzled me.

.

_-Clocks?_

_._

The both looked at me and comprehension downed upon them.

.

_-Julius here fixes the clocks so that people can be replaced._

_-Huh?_ – yep, that was my "smart" answer.

.

The guy with blue hair looked at me as if he was calculating something and then spoke with a deep voice while going back to his work:

.

_-When people die here only their clocks remain, I fix them so that the after images can become people again._

-_Huh? Still not getting it, why clocks?_ – **_(I'm on a row with my smart answers, aren't I)_**

_-Just listen._ – I was yanked by Ace who had taken off his long red coat and that held me in tight hug against his chest **_(wow, this guy is strong)_** . I was about to protest and do something drastic when I heard a slight tick-tack, my first though was that he was carrying a clock in a pocket, but he had taken off his coat and had opened up his formal jacket leaving my head pressed over his shirt.

.

He must have noticed I heard the clock sound, still holding me he took a seat in the coach and I was positioned at his side but still leaning over him.

.

_-People here don´t have heart, we have clocks._ – He said matter of factly, I listened with all my attention and I was surprised to not hear a heartbeat at all. I removed myself from his chest and this time he let go, he looked at me with a smile that hid something I couldn´t grasp, as if he was waiting some sort of reaction from me, and he got it.

_- Can you strip please?_ – I asked while I took of my jacket to enter some settings in the virtual board of one of the touch screens of my arms, I didn´t have x-rays but I did have a light metal detector in the palm of my left glove, it was originally designed to detect shrapnel, trap switches and so on. I had used it to detect hidden safes and treasures, keys and coins. Combined it with my trough wall sensors I would be able to get a good enough "view" of the clock if it was indeed there.

.

_-If you insist I´ll strip!_ – He said happily and took of his formal jacket and his shirt leaving them discarded in the arm of the coach.

.

_-Wait!_ – Julius exclaimed when Ace was going for his belt.

-_ I only meant the shirt, I want to test something-_ I turned to look and clarified my request.

.

I positioned myself practically over him and put my hand over his chest moving it slowly to get a good scan. There was definitely a clock there, but it was an old analog clock, there was no pump attached or a battery to power it. I looked at him in the eyes and he looked at mine with a predatory interest.

And then the door from which I came from opened loudly.

.

-Master Nightmare!

.

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* * *

**GREY´S POV**

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Nightmare had been postponing his work again, I had just brought him another stack of paperwork to punish him when the door to his office opened.

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_-Tree killer!_

_-Oh the new foreigner!_

.

I looked at her, she was pointing at me with horror and disgust in her eyes, she had called me a killer, which I was.

Nightmare took the change to get away and drag her with him, he used the doors to transport between floors and it took me not to long to figure out his final destination.

I opened the door to Julius office with force and was met with a scenario that left me as red as the clock master´s face was. Nightmare was in the floor unconscious and with a heavy nose bleed, Julius was standing before his desk face completely red and his glasses off place, he even had dropped his work aside! And he was looking at Ace, who was shirtless, leaning back in the coach with the foreigner on top of him rubbing his chest in a slow motion, they were looking each other in the eyes intently.

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_-Master Nightmare!_

.

Nightmare choose that moment to groan and wake up, just to immediately fall backwards again with an even worse nosebleed, he probably read what we were thinking before he even saw it.

She got off Ace and went up to Julius who backed up a little, she leaned up a bit **_(was this a trio!?)_** and took a clock from the table and examined it with interest.

.

-_How does this even work, its an old analog kind of clock and doesn't even seem to have a battery, how can this serve? Even artificial hearts are not meant to last more than a few months or years? And a human heart requires 2 ventricles and 4 cavities to pump the blood along the system with enough pressure to spit the blood 10-12 meters away? And what are afterimages? You said that you repair them right?_

.

Julius took back the clock protectively and looked at her. She just observed him with innocent curiosity waiting for an answer.

.

_-And why are you asking me?_ – The clock master has regained a bit of his composure.

_-Because if you repair these to replace people that makes you like a god of life or something, right? So you probably know._

.

* * *

**And she gets to meet more roleholders and goes into such a confusing situation without even realizing (or caring about) it. ****It also seems that she wants to rip open someone to look how things work -w-0.**

**What kind of job do you think she´ll do as a business consultant XD ?**

**who do you think she should met next?**

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	9. Chapter 9

.

**CHAPTER 9**

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.

Everyone remained silent; no one has ever though of Julius as related to life, much less himself. He was known as the mortician, the clock master, the master of death, not of life. This new foreigner was surprising them quite a bit and they had known her for like 10 minutes and she obviously knew nothing of them, even if she had been in wonderland for a few days already she still didn´t knew anything about this world, ¿where had she been? Was what the present roleholders were asking themselves.

.

-_Aarggg…. I´m gonna die from blood loss…. Grey… Help me!_ – Nightmare was waking up again, interrupting everyone´s thoughts.

.

Grey regained his composure and helped Nightmare to get up and sit in a smaller couch. The ex-assassin was still watching the strange girl with a bit of distrust. She was the new foreigner, Nightmare had said it and he believed it, yet she didn´t strike him as much of a foreigner besides having eyes, she didn´t resemble Alice at all; It´s not that she wasn´t pretty _**(Although is hard to tell with what she´s wearing, that´s just so unfeminine)**_, she looked a few years older than Alice and with a sturdier frame, she was apparently very bold, confident and very curious and didn't look dependent or in need at all, how had she survived in wonderland for so long without roleholder´s help was a mystery.

.

-_**(Is she really a foreigner from Alice´s world?) - W**_ere Grey´s thoughs. _  
_

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-_Of course she is Grey! Foreigners are unique, y´know?_ – Nightmare had read grey´s thoughts. – _Don´t think that, you don´t even know her! Besides…. Your thoughts were VERY different a few moments ago, really waking up to such dirty though from all of you guys…_

.

Julius got red again and so did Grey, while Ace only grinned more, she turned around and observed Grey.

.

_**- (It´s the guy from the alley! Oh shit, and I called him tree killer) **__mmmhhh… Hi? – She nonchalantly said._

.

Grey didn´t miss her sudden more dry and somewhat timid attitude towards him, she suddenly became cautious, but she had at least greeted him.

.

_-Hi… My name is Grey Ringcmac. And who are you miss?_

_-Ummhhh…. I´m… well… In any case you can call me Scherzo._ – She looked at all them and finally noticed their disconcerted expressions - _Did I said something wrong?..._ _In that case I apologize for it and for future misunderstandings probably based and done in a different cultural context as a result of the cultural shock I'm dealing with as result of having no background information regarding the ways and customs of this world._

.

She said that really fast and the digital distortion of her voice hadn´t helped them to comprehend everything she said.

.

_-What´s wrong with your voice?_ – Ace tilted his head a little and asked.

_-My voice? Oh, it's just a digital distortion with a correction for pitch increment_ – She answered happily(_**I sound like Hatsune Miku… but at least no one will recognize my voice that easily if I keep changing it in every territory). **_

.

She went to take a seat in the sofa at the other side of where Ace was still leaning (he was still shirtless and enjoying it) and turned to see the incubus.

.

_-You´re Nightmare, right? The guys from the amusement park told me that you can answer some of my questions._

_-So you´ve already been at the amusement park? I would gladly answer your questions but I have some of my own too?_

.

She looked him in the eye with suspicion.

.

_-Very well, I´ll tell you my questions, and after you answer them I´ll answer yours if It´s possible for me, ok?_ - Nightmare decided that she probably wanted to know more about the game and that he could avoid answering the things she didn´t need to know so that she would stay there longer to give them time to play and win the game of hearts.

_-That´s fine … __**(I can always read her mind … wait… !)**_ – He noticed that since the moment she entered his office he hadn´t read her mind at all! She must had noticed how his eyes widened for a second, because she started asking questions immediately.

_-Im very curious about many things, but the main stuff I want to ask about is….._

She asked about the process of time changes, the after images, the biology of the inhabitants of wonderland and medicine practices regarding their "peculiarities", the faceless and the roles, the physics and mechanics of the world, the geography and astronomy, etc… She asked many things that none of them have ever thought about and many of which them didn´t really know. She didn´t even bother asking about the game of hearts.

.

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* * *

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**NIGHTMARE´S POV**

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I truly couldn´t answer much of her questions, many of the stuff she asked about was regarding things that simply are as they are and required no explanation for us, everyday things that have always been in wonderland and that we take for granted and are deemed as normal.

.

_**-(She´s so inquisitive!)**_

_**.**_

I tried my best to explain some stuff to her but she didn´t seem satisfied with my answers, and she couldn´t understand my analogies, the other present roleholders had entered the discussion too but weren´t successful in their explanations either, I knew what they were thinking, and this foreigner was indeed baffling. What bothered me is that I couldn´t read her at all, at least her mind, because her gestures were somewhat exaggerated, she spoke more with her hands than with her mouth.

.

_-Sorry, that's the best I can answer your questions (**figurative language is an epic fail with you.**)–_ I finally sighted and admitted my defeat in answering her technical questions.

_-Well, do you at least know where I can get more info, maybe a big library or something? – _I felt in my bones that something was not quite right_** (But perhaps it´s just my normal sickness, maybe that door hit me too hard).**_

_-Heart´s castle has a big library; maybe you can check the books there! I can take you later if you want._ - Ace interrupted with his trademark grinning smile that usually augured nothing good.

.

I could swear that I saw her eyes get bigger and her smile was as big as the knave´s when she accepted the offer of the Knight. Now was my time to ask the questions… But the time changed to night. I was going to retire to sleep but she deemed it unnecessary after she raised her left hand, she was wearing a clock in her wrist, at least it looked like a clock but not like any I´ve ever seen.

.

-So? Its not that late, in my world, or at least in the country where the hole in the ground was it´s still evening. So ask, but I can´t guarantee that I´ll be able _(__**or willing to**__) _answer everything.

.

I tried to read her mind once again. She moved a bit as if she just suffered some goosebumps and raised her other arm to press the transparent plaques on her forearm, images flashed in the "screen" and then a graphic like those of the _(gulp)_ hospital monitors appeared, she pressed something a few more times and then turned off the things. She turned to look at me with a not so amused smile, a complete fake expression that seemed painted instead of belonging to actual factions (**_such a scary expression!)_**.

.

_-Please stop that, it won´t work._ – Her voice, already weird enough, sounded hollow and creepy with even more change in tones than before (**Authors note: think that she sounded like Hatsune Miku from vocaloid and the next second she sounded like GLaDOS from portal** ).

.

_-Stop what?_ – Grey asked noticing she was speaking to me and feeling some kind of threat.

.

She didn´t stop looking straight at me, but I felt that she was looking past me, she was examining and analyzing me. Then she added.

.

_-I heard that you "read minds" Nightmare. Please refrain from trying to do so with me, it won´t work, I don´t know how you intent to, but brain scanners and mind mappers are useless. If you persist I´ll be forced to take counter measures._

_-(Gulp) But it´s in my nature, I can hardly control it! And I can´t read anything from you or even enter your dreams anyways!_–I argued a bit worried about whatever her "counter measures" were.

.

The other role holders turned to look at me in surprise, I think I even heard Julius´s neck crack from how fast he turned his head.

.

_-You can´t read her mind?_ – Grey asked a bit impressed, so far he is the only one that can shield his thoughts from me.

_-Please try not to-_ She stated with a more sincere smile and interrupted Grey– _… enter dreams? I don´t understand. Anyways, what are you going to ask me? _

.

I could not figure her out _**(It´s not that you´re shielding your thoughts, its more as if there weren´t any thoughts to read! How do you do that?!),**_ It´s just very strange. While Ace and Grey were impressed and Julius was thinking I deserved whatever she tried I didn´t know how to react. _**(Well, if I ask the right questions maybe I´ll figure it out.)**_

.

-_Oh, yeah… I believe you´ve already been here in wonderland for quite a few time changes, right? Where you´ve been? You could have been hurt. Wonderland is more dangerous than you suppose._

_-I already got hurt, but it healed, so no worries. Where I´ve been…. Well, I woke up in the middle of some woods and roamed there for a few time changes, then I ended up in a bar in the middle of a gang attack or something, then a building collapsed while I was inside during the gunfight, then I was at the prison for a couple of days, then I went to the amusement park, then I got lost on the road of life and finally I am here…_

.

That must have been the vaguest story I´ve heard…wait...

.

_-So you already met Joker? - _The knight of hearts interrupted my musing and made a Chill run through my spine, made Julius eyes widen for a second and Grey stop judging her so rashly.

.

Except for the knight we all were thinking along the same lines _**(I already got hurt…. I was at the prison for a couple of days), **_she didn´t said the circus, she clearly stated the prison, and for a few days. _**(What did joker did to her? Is it the reason she´s so… whatever state her mind is!?). **_Maybe he tortured her…. If she then went to the amusement park I´ll have to ask Mary.

.

_-Yes, I did. He took me to the prison after the building incident._

.

I couldn´t really ask her anymore, _**(She probably had been…. Was she…?... Her poor mind….. I just simply can´t**_). Maybe I couldn´t access her mind because she was shielding it so forcefully to forget whatever Joker did to her that nothing could see it. I called quits and we went to sleep, we offered her a room in either of the towers and she choose to stay at the clock tower so that Ace could take her to the castle the next day.

.

I truly didn´t know what to make out of this new foreigner and neither did Grey, she was a mystery, so curious and so fascinated, so unafraid and so bold. We were back in my office and we were smoking, Grey exhaled smoke from his cigarette and commented.

.

_-This foreigner is… not what I expected._

_-Not what any of us expected. _

_-She´s so different from Alice… and she called me "tree killer"_

_-Well, you waste too much paper, why must there be so much paperwork anyways! If she´s against paperwork she is a good person._

_-There is always much paperwork because you don´t do it properly and in time. Did you really couldn´t read her mind or enter her dreams?_

_-No, and I don´t even want to think about what he did to her…._

_-It´s not against the rules…_

_-But the foreigner is allowed to go wherever she wants, and if he retained her there… that IS against the rules…_

_-Two foreigners at the same time… that is rare. And the second one has been lost for many time changes…_

_-Maybe we should call a meeting._

.

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* * *

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**SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS THE NEXT DAY**

.

.

They had been walking for hours in the woods but none of the pair really seemed to care much, they had been chatting all the way happily.

.

_-ha,ha, if the time changes to night we´ll have to camp out._ –The knight said.

_-Cool! I like camping! _

_-You do?_

_-Yep, camping is fun, you don´t have to worry about stuff and problems, you can be alone with yourself and just be yourself and even enjoy nature where there´s still enough of it, at least it used to be like that. _

_._

The knight slowed his pace a little to look at her back.

.

_-hhhmmm, I agree. But what do you mean by "still enough of it"_

_-Forget the last part __**(CRAP! I let on too much**__). _

_-You mean the nature part or the real last part about the "used to be"._

_-Both. Too bad I don´t have my camping gear with me._

_-Ok, and don´t worry, I do have my camping gear with me and my tent is big. In fact why don´t we set camp right now. This looks like a good place._

.

To his luck the time started changing. She had just turned around and a tent was already set.

.

_-Ok,I´ll go gather wo… Whoa! That was fast. _

_-All set and done! I´ll prepare something to eat. You said you were lost in the woods?_

_-Yeah, but I eventually followed someone out._

_-Oh? Was it a role holder?_

_-Yes, in fact it was you __**(Is that a 60 segs. Self mounting tend?, it does look like it, but who knows?) – **__. if it weren´t for you I might still be lost in the woods (__**with no map, no gps, no coordinates systems, different star pattern… yep, lost)-**__ I´ll go get some wood._

_**-(oh? A lost person saved another lost one from being lost?)-**_The knight kept his gaze on her back while she went for wood.

.

A little later they had a nice camp fire going and were chatting when Ace suddenly got up and went to her. In a second he had her pinned bellow him and had his head against her chest. With all the calm in the world she spoke.

.

_-What is it? _

_-No fair, I can´t listen well to your heart._ – He said looking at her armored clothes.

_-If you wanted to listen to my heartbeat then you just had to ask. It's a fair exchange, you let me listen to yours and I have no problem letting you hear mine._

_- Really? _-Ace turned to look at her _**(Is she for real? Alice always protested**_).

_- Of course, now let me move to enhance the sound._

.

She moved her hand to her arm and once again the screens flashed with light and symbols Ace couldn´t comprehend, then she touched a small dial like thing that seemed to be inside her thick neck choker and sound went up. It was a heartbeat and it was steady. He listened to it a few seconds.

.

_-That´s not what I meant. __**( I also wonder if I can make it go faster or slower.)**_

_-Oh! Yeah, I admit that the sound quality is good but not the best. Unfortunately I don´t have an stethoscope so that you could hear it well, perhaps if you listen by the thoracic cavity so that it serves as a resonance box... You manna listen though my chest? _

.

Without waiting for an answer she moved her hand again and somehow unlatched the upper part of her armored clothes and then unlatched again some other layer and moved some stuff, then with a pass of her fingers she went for her neck and moved low in a slow motion that liberated the pressure her breasts were under and made these open up the suit more by the pressure of their size. The suit opened to show her bare skin and covered her as if she had a low V-neck. She then proceeded to unlock one shoulder in the same way giving the knave the idea that she was peeling a second of skin. From above her breast he had access on top of her heart without seeing more erogenous zones.

He observed her (_**Oh, she has a big chest! )**_ and then pressed his head above the breast.

.

_-It´s so steady, I wonder what I´d have to do to make it go faster…_

_-You´d have to inject antiarrhythmics to change the speed or block the conduction of the heart's electrical impulses. Atropine works to slow it down. Epinephrine or maybe belladonna alkaloid would serve to accelerate it. Does your clocks change their pace?_

_-We sometimes feel as if they do, but maybe it´s just our imagination (__**Did she ever ….?**__ )._

.

A little later Ace was about to fall asleep by the lullaby of her heartbeat when she mentioned something that woke him and made him recognize this new foreigner and realize that she was even stranger than Alice, maybe dangerous to herself and potentially lots of fun for him.

.

_-I wonder what would happen if I activate a strong electromagnet near anyone or if I injected the __antiarrhythmics,_ what reaction would people´s bodies here have?  


.

After that she got him off and readjusted her armor, both went to sleep in the tent separately back to back and at the next day the finally made it to the castle and headed to the library (at least Ace though so) when…

.

_-Where you´ve been you stupid Knight!_

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* * *

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**Seriously, why do they always think the worst when someone mentions Joker? (Author roles eyes at self). Also the next chapter the changing names will be settled.  
**

**.**

**To Sam-i-am: I don´t think the movie Hanna ever got out in my country, but I read the summary when you mentioned it. No, she is not a super soldier, nor was she raised in a lab or anything of the sort, although she is a walking data base and there is someting biological menal, anyways, next chapet a bit more clues of her past will be revealed.**


	10. Chapter 10

**.The chapter was getting too long, so I divided it in two.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 10**

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The castle of hearts was impressive and bigger than had she estimated from the info recorded on her last "visit".

.

-_Pretty cool place, right? _– The tall knight said while they advanced through a bunch of corridors towards where Ace though was the library. Guards saluted when they passed by them and followed their figures with their nonexistent eyes in a well known way that promised that gossips would spread like gunpowder soon afterwards.

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-_Why do they salute you?_

_-Because I´m the knave of hearts. I´m their general. Part of my role is to train and command the troops._

_-Really? That's..!_

___-Where you´ve been you stupid Knight!_

.

From the end of the corridor a man with white bunny ears came fuming.

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_-Where you´ve been you moron! The queen is looking for you. _

_-Then I should go and see what she wants, it would be un-knightly to let the queen waiting_ - The smile Ace flashed was murderous. – _But so would it be to let another lady to roam alone. So Mr. prime minister, would you kindly show her to the library?_

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The prime minister looked at the girl with disgust.

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_-What is your role?_ – The bunny minister asked with annoyance.

_-She´s the new foreigner_ –Ace said with an unfriendly smile while putting his hand on her shoulder.

_-Impossible! My dear Alice is the only foreigner. This one is a fake!_ – He said angrily.

-_I assure you I´m VERY real. I´m just here to check the library… could you take me there please._ – The "please" was more an insult than anything, she didn´t like him, in fact the only things she wanted with this bunny was to vivisect him.

_-Very well. But only because Alice would not appreciate me killing another foreigner._ - Then he added turning to look at the girl- _Follow me Vermin._

_-She you later!_ – Ace waved goodbye and left.

.

The prime minister led her to the library and the little trip was without words from either (which by the way was in a completely different direction from where she and Ace had been heading to ), the dislike was apparently mutual. Once inside he finally spoke.

.

_-How did you come into wonderland, who brought you? _

_-No one brought me, I came by myself._

_-Do you intent to take Alice´s place?_

_-I don´t even know, nor care about this Alice girl._

_._

The Prime minister took out his gun and pointed it at her.

.

_-Then she won´t miss someone she doesn´t know or care about either._

_-STOP IT!_ – From behind the bookcases the king came out.

_-hm._ – The bunny man grunted but took his gun away and turned to leave. – _Don´t expect much luck next time._

.

The king came to her side, she recognized him immediately (_**He´s the one who send the guards after me!)**_ , but she faked confusion.

.

_-Are you alright? Sorry about Peter White, he is quite touchy when it comes to Alice. You are the new foreigner, are you not? Its almost unheard of 2 foreigners at the same time miss… How may I address the young lady?_

_-I´m fine, thank you. Please call me Discanto. You´ll have to forgive my uncouth modals, but I am an ignorant regarding protocol in this world._

_-What an interesting name. I am the king of hearts. – T_he king presented himself.

.

Yet the king could tell that she obviously knew about protocol in her world by the way she expressed, her words and the way she acted. She explained to him that the knight of hearts have brought her to see the library.

On her part, she analyzed the king and deemed him unimposing and un-impressive, but he didn´t recognized her from the fiasco the night of the ballroom dance and allowed her to look around, and even helped her get the books she had originally tried to steal. The king ordered a servant to provide her with a notebook and pen in case she wanted to take notes, which she thanked and he remained to provide company and to relieve his own curiosity which only increased with every moment he saw her devour the worlds in the books.

.

.

Time changed and she was still reading at a pace the king had never seen, she had put some sort of ear plugs and connected them to a small device the size of a cigarettes box (**Author´s notes: she put on her headphones and connected them to her cellphone)**, then she had skipped fast though the books only stopping to take notes, she probably have seen a few dozens of books, the king observed that she only looked out for whatever she wanted and skipped the rest of the pages, and if she deemed that a book might come in handy later she noted the book´s title in a paper with a little description of what it contained. She was definitely used to research and to read fast, really fast.

.

-_Where is the new visitor that has been rude enough to not visit us yet!_

.

The doors opened and the queen Vivaldi came in followed by her court. It took the focused foreigner a moment to realize that someone had interrupted her reading an another one to asset the situation, she then elegantly took of her headphones and put aside the book of history of the castle of hearts she was reading, got up with grace and made a slight bow never taking her eyes of the queen´s. The girl was addressing the queen as an equal, her slight bow had been of courtesy, not of earned respect.

.

_-Pardon me my lady, but I didn´t knew you were interested in meeting me. I was invited by the knight of hearts to revise this wonderful library in order to know more about this world so I could avoid misunderstandings and embarrassing situations like the one I´m unfortunately seem to be caught in right now. I deeply apologize for past misdeed and offer another apology in advance if I were to accidentally cause another and I assure you it´s not my intention but perhaps a mishap out of mere cultural shock._

_._

Vivaldi was a bit surprised at how this new foreigner behaved, despite her appearance and clothes she could very well be a diplomat or a noble (**_Not like that marquis who couldn´t behave like his title deemed_**) also noticed the big pile of books by her side and the one she had been reading was an old history tome (_**She is more cultured and proper than her appearance suggest**_).

Vivaldi had been curious from the start. She had felt the new foreigner just as the other role holders had, and somehow she intermediately knew the foreigner was a girl, just like she had felt it with Alice. At times she had wondered why rarely ever in the history of wonderland the foreigner was a male, and at some point in her younger years she had been very frustrated and had trow a tantrum; she had been really angry at all the other role holders being male (save for the queen of diamond whom she didn´t even knew) and she having not a real single friend, then she had wished for a foreigner to arrived and would not have minded if the foreigner was female because then she could perhaps have a friend, that had made her think that perhaps foreigners were in the same situation when they came to wonderland, alone and surrounded by dangerous and (mostly)mentally unstable males who would fall in love with them and in need of another girl to talk to. So she decided that if she had the luck of ever meeting a foreigner she would at least try to be friends.

_._

_-We pardon you and demand that you accompany us for a tea party at the garden right now. _

_-That should be an honor and my pleasure, fair lady._

_._

The tea party was organized with haste. There Vivaldi and Discanto talked mildly about many topics, they got along quite well and the queen explained more about wonderland to her, nothing that the girl hadn´t find out already but did so in a clearer way. Later on they were joined by the prime minister.

.

_-Why is that vermin still here your majesty? What if she brought some disease that Alice may catch!_ – The bunny asked while he took a seat.

_-Be polite to our guest White! And where is the knave of hearts!?_ – The queen ordered. _– Please ignore our prime minister, he is quite the germophobic._

_-The knight must be lost again I doubt we´ll see him in days.-_ The bunny said and they left it there.

_-The caution of the prime minister is well grounded; pandemics can spread if precautions are not taken. Fortunately I´m very cautions, My antivius is up to date and when I arrived in this world I took care to stay in a germ free state as I was the one in risk of catching a sickness from this world. As for the Alice… I haven´t met her at all, but I have her been mentioned continuously._

.

The queen raised an eyebrow and the prime minister was taken aback a bit that the girl that looked like a brute to him but could understand the risks of sicknesses.

.

_-Alice is our dear friend too, she arrived at wonderland and has decided to stay here, at the hatter´s mansion… _- The last part was added with clear scorn.

_-The hatter´s… as I understanding there are territories at conflict with each other, right?_

_-Yes, we are at war with the hatter´s and the amusement park. The other territories are neutral. But we don´t care about those territories anyways. Have you visited them already?_

_-Most of them but not all. Is the circus/prison at war or neutral?_

_._

Sudden silence filled the place.

.

_-You´ve been there? We are concerned_.- The queen said breaking the silence, but the prime minister spoke.

_-The knight said that you wanted to see the library, you already did, so you can leave_ – The prime minister said, clearly annoyed at having to be there. The queen scowled at him and then turned to the girl but agreed with the change of subject.

_-As I said, ignore the prime minister, he is rude to everyone except Alice, he´s still quite attached to her. However we must ask you if found our library satisfying?_

_-Yes I did, unfortunately there´s still much for me to read about. I would like to request permission to come over again and read more._

_-We gladly accept your request, we allow you to come whenever you want and check all the books you require. We also offer you a room for tonight or for the duration of your stay in wonderland. And we request that you call us by our name._

_-Thank you! Que… Vivaldi, I accept tonight's offer, but I´m still not sure about a longer stay…_ – She noticed the slight displeasure in the queens face at her refusal- _Perhaps I can stay a few days to check the books, there are many in your wonderful library after all._

_-That pleases us._

.

The queen stated and did so in time for the next time change that marked the end of the party.

.

After the party Discanto was taken to a guest room, she rested a little and took a bath, but very soon she decided to return to the library to read more… and she stayed there reading and researching for various time periods until she collapsed from tiredness.

.

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* * *

_**DISCANTO´S POV**_

.

.

After I collapsed I decided I needed a small break, not because I needed to rest (**_maybe I do need to rest_**) but because I needed to relocate and examine the info so far in my brain regarding this world, I could deal with information overload without problems, but eventually cognitive overflow could happen If I didn´t "rest", I had to attend some of the business with the guys and I wanted to check my hidden gear anyways, so I headed to clover.

.

_-The boss is back!_

_-Boss everything´s fine thanks to yo!_

_-Welcome back boss!_

.

I took care to not be followed and reached a safe point where I had hid some cover clothes, another long coat and a mask, it was not convenient to me that the new foreigner was related to "Berceuse"the independent contrator.

I went to the "office" which was the upper part of an establishment almost identical to the one where I had met being a small group they actually had quite good financial actives.

I was saluted upon my arrival.

_._

_-Boss Berceuse! You´re back! – _Wedge, the self-proclaimed 3° in command, exclaimed happily when I entered the office.

_-How many times must I tell you that I´m not your boss! Im your independent executive consultant_.-I massaged my temple, no matter how many times I told them I was not their boss, they acted as though if I was and I was just trying to keep a low profile.

_-Boss we missed ´ya!- _Exclaimed Biggs who was according to him my representative (he didn´t want to be boss either, or rather he didn´t knew how to) and 2° in command.

_-I´m not your boss…. _

_-If you say so boss we won't tell that you are our boss!_

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**FLASHBACK**

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When I was led to this place the first time I realized that these guys were mere henchmen with no real idea about how to lead a business, they didn´t have much will and were deadly afraid of taking the reins _**(later on I learned that they were afraid to be punished for braking a rule or something),**_ they said that it was their roles and that was what they were but I also learned that the more important a role was the more set it get. Faceless could change their jobs if they wanted, but if their jobs were of some renown it was harder, on the other hand role holders were completely stuck with the power and duties of their roles, although they could do side jobs or even take multiple roles as long as they fulfilled their role duties.

These guys were a minor mafia, they were more into "entertainment establishments", like bars, clubs, table dances, small casinos and trafficking, their specialty was exactly that last one, trafficking, they proudly claimed to be able to get anything. They didn´t called themselves anything yet, but they were always doing anything and everything for something until they got bigger and gained a name (**_i didn´t understand that_ **), and while trying to do that, their last boss had gotten involved into some weird stuff regarding the "lost" country of wonderland "Spades", but they didn´t say anything besides that, maybe because they didn´t knew.

When I entered the office the night Biggs found me I was met with cheers and joy, Wedge even threw himself to hug my knees and I almost feel down before I actually pried him off me with a kick, they were VERY relieved to have a boss (_**I told them I wasn´t a boss, damn it!)**_ , without ceremony but with utter respect Biggs put on the suitcase that their last boss had passed me over the desk and Wedge opened it for me. Then they all stood firm but left me room to check what it hid and think about it.

.

The contents included a list of all the places they owned and all the legal papers and properties of all the official businesses, it also contained the list of the illegal deals, some account books and a few paper notes of the countries of Diamond and Spades _**(I haven´t even heard of those, I thought that hearts and clover were the only ones…). **_

There was also a mirror shard as big as my hand, something that to me looked like a cellphone charm in the shape of the spades symbol of a deck of cards, a cute pair of earrings that had the shape of small white masks with a smiling face but with left eye crossed by a vertical slit (_**I think I´ve seen something like this somewhere… I´ll check my mental files later. At the very least I got nice jewelry), **_a key and an old book that had no real pages but was made to hide something inside, there I found an old paper with a weird poem that was written in a way that only could be read by looking at it in a mirror its tittle was_** "**__Jabberwocky__". _

_._

This was becoming to much for me and I wasn´t thinking of only about the job I was about to accept. (_**I guess I haven´t got time to actually think about everything)**_

_._

For a moment I envisioned all that had fascinated me about this world, all the amazing things I wanted to know about and all the interesting things that I still didn´t knew about. True, it had its conflicts, but so far nothing were as bad as my own world, I probably had been safer than in many years. Although my life is at stake as always I don´t feel the constant despair of the were many mysteries that needed research, practically everything was so to me _**(This world presented me with so many fascinating things, so many of them held so much potential…. I wanted to know, I NEEDED to know how things worked). **_And I got a sensation that these objects are a key to unravel something interesting.  
.

I concentrated on the documents and the account books, after reading them I took a whimsical but still rational decision, I took out my vial to check it, it had just a few more drops, I had to calculate how fast and how much it filled with every encounter or interaction. The vial was a mystery by itself, how does it actually fills? does it condensates something? for what I new roleholders may as well transpire some substance that the vial absorbs wand condenses while near them (**_and that hypothesis´s a little gross I guess_**) or they could generate some sort of energy that makes the vial work, whatever... and what would happen if I were to drink it before it is filled? what if someone else from this world drink´s it? (_**I really want to analyze the liquid in a lab**_) they mentioned a game or something, could it be related?

So few drops... It was obvious that I would stay here for quite a while, so I better take notes and then find correlations and equations. There is much to find out. I will help them with this businesses to see how far and how much I can get in this amount of time, and to ensure I have resources on my own to further my research, it should also be a good practice for when I go back.

.

I thought about some of what happened to me the past few years.

.

Before the war finally was declared officially I had already been stranded in that damned country, and I had already become a good villain _**(I had been such a geek and freaky when I was young, and then…All I was supposed to be… all I could have help with…and I ended up so far away, so unable to act…**_) I hadn´t been sitting with my arms crossed, during that time the civil war started and I took upon "the enemy of my enemy is my friend (_**or at least something I can use against my enemy)" **_approach, I had died a hero and a villain various times,or rather people have been very eager to declare the dead of such characters. However this freedom fighters were few (at least initially) and had little resources, they were the revolutionaries, the partisans…they would eventually fall because they haven´t consider many things, so I helped them as a white neck mercenary, I helped them raise their business and their family´s, to amass resources, to be self-sufficient and sustainable with green technologies, to survive against the monstrous corporations, I thought them techniques and implemented technology and communications… all while I hit their enemies right where it hurt, in the money. That worked for a while and I also learned a lot more and got good first hand experience…. Until war was upon the world again.

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-(_**There is still so much I can do and so much wont ever be able to...**_)

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But this world presented me with so many opportunities that I could use to make a turn in the tides of and for my world, that If I managed to get back before things got worse there. I was sure things were getting bad by the minute, and everything could end horribly in matter of months, big power blocks wanted to end things in a quick and decisive way, to demonstrate their power and subjuate their adversaries, wars weren´t between countries anymore, they were between interestest and blocks, corporations moving the strings of governments, big countries dragging small ones into the grotesque waltz by forced military and or economic deals and treaties... And the only way to do so , to end things fast was by using tactical weapons +, so things would be dragged a lot, maybe even a few more years before anyone was desperate or crazy enough to use such weapons, or maybe not... As I said the wars are of interests, everything else is irrelevant.

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_**-(All my life I´ve gathered knowledge, a life worth two doing just doing that, all my studies and my titles. And then it simply went to hell before I could use it for what I was supposed to… ) **__I´ll see how far I can go, how good I can get, how much I can learn… __**(because I´ll need it for when I go back)**__ . Very well guys. There is much I can learn from this world and I have an objective._

_._

I looked at the men and women who had gathered around the place and in the corridors, the rumors that the boss was back probably spread fast and all the members were here waiting to see if I really would help them, or rather if I would lead them.

_._

_-Biggs! Wedge! Everyone! – _I looked at them and smoothly added_**, (This is a moment for some words I think , good thing that I studied rhetoric and dialectic and that I already know enough about wonderland to improvise something)**_

_**.**_

"_I have an objective, I have a plan and I have a strategy. I´ll help you with "professional executive consulting". Believe me, I who am speaking to you, I, who had been chosen by you, I, who is going to bring purpose and a name to you. I have nothing to offer but knowledge and experience. We have before us an ordeal but with me you have the ways to surpass it._

_._

_Before us we have many time changes of struggle, but every difficulty will become an opportunity and we will take every opportunity and transform it into an advantage and a victory._

_._

_What is our policy? I say our policy is to wage a revolution. Knowledge and information shall be our main objective, and money our main weapon. This WILL be done in ways wonderland have never seen, with all our might and with all our strength, you may not understand it, you may not understand but I'll prepared for you for it, we´ll change the lamentable catalogue of lack of information regarding this world and we´ll use it in our favor._

_._

_I now tell you that nothing will be lost for us, I´ll help you get your name on. Prepare for some changes around here, we´ll hit were others haven´t hit in ways that no one in this world have though."_

_._

I addressed Biggs and Wedge who were at my sides while, Biggs had tears rolling from his nonexistent eyes (_**I need to research that, hoe can he cry without lacrimals?**_).

.

_-Biggs! Wedge! I want data, if you don´t have it get it. I want to know statistics; population, economy, conflicts, history, EVERYTHING. I want to know the flow of supply changes for all basic products and activities in all countries. Controlling the key processes, places and products is our main objective for now. We´ll also make our entertainment business more attractive, bring me data regarding the business. Also I want a report on the kind of music in the clubs and the sort of activities done in them, and I want the girls to tell me what kind of performances they do. Gather any info regarding the lost countries and how things changes for Clover and hearts with the lost.  
_

_-Yes mam!_

_- Also g__et me also all the info you have about current and past roleholders, I don´t care about their personal shit, I want info about their official activities regarding their roles and anything that may be relevant.  
_

___-Yes mam!_

_._

This was getting interesting, my second and main university tittle was in informatics sciences, and I was going to work with information. I took out the papers and started to plan business strategies. I still would not get too involved, and I would not interfere in this world with the vices of mine nor was I gonna give too much to these guys, I was only their "executive business consultant", I would ditch them If I needed too.

I knew what I wanted, I would decipher the secrets of this world and take them back with me to use on my own world. The potential of this world was humongous, if I decipher the afterimages I can create an army that would obey without problems that could scare the crap out of people and was not subjected to many physical problems, if I deciphered the clock hearts I could save many people or maybe even create a bunch of golems, if I discovered how the time worked and changed I could improve or destroy agriculture and life circles, if I understood how people had animal traits, or how they could teleport from one place to other or how one person can be two at the same time. If or rather WHEN I learn such things, how can someone project himself in dreams or his method of reading minds... WHEN I learned how this world works... Hell, even if I can´t apply it in my world it will be very good, and the basic research will serve in the future, to science!

.

-_This truly is such a wonderful world._ **^w^**

_._

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**END FLASKBACK**

.

.

I was done checking up with them… (**ok, maybe I needed to think a name for my merry band of misfits**) and I was at a safe point hiding my stuff again, Berceuse the "non boss the executive consultant" needed to remain unrelated to me.

.

The place was an old and ruined clinic, not much remained of it but It was a good place to hide stuff as no one got near it. I could even use it as a safe place to rest and sleep a bit.

I had just hid my coat and mask when my sensors detected activity nearing from the upper floor, various spots were in my radar and nearing, (_**Damn! I already changed.**_ _**I need to get out fast before anyone sees me!**_ ) my best bet is to run , they´re too many for me too handle, I´ve never been a direct fighter. I turned around and ran, I was going turn in a corner but a new lecture appeared in front of me so fast that it hadn´t been there a second ago.

.

**BAM!**

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_-FU** DAMMIT! _

**-(Wait…I know that voice…) **_Black… I think we should stop meeting this way._

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I had crashed with the warden again.

.

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* * *

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**+Tactical weapons+ : depending on where you look for, tactical weapons are those that cause massive damage instead of controlled strategic weapons whose collateral damage can be controlled and minimized, in massive scale she is referring to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. **

**Oh,oh… What will Wonderland do with a foreigner like this? As I said in the summary, she isn´t nice and seem to only be on her own side, right? And She is not exactly playing the game of hearts, or is she? What do you think? I think she´s somewhat in denial.  
**

**. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Im gonna revise the story to make it more dynamic to read.**

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* * *

**CHAPTER 11**

**.**

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* * *

**JOKER´S POV**

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I was on my way to Clover to capture the bunch of faceless that attacked the hatters territory during that forsaken ball and who for my disgust where not the same ones that attacked the *** building where I met her.

I was also on my way to a roleholder´s meeting the caterpillar had officially called. ( _**What a bother…**_ _**Although I do wonder what the meeting is**_ _**about**_).

.

_-Who f***** cares! Those meeting are always a waste of time._

_-True._

_-You think they will bring the foreigners?_

_-Nha. They will try to keep them far away from us. The hatter will try to keep his precious Alice locked up in his mansion and who knows where Aria decided to stay. How rude of her to not have come see me._

_-The **** bitch probably all ***** cozy friend with Alice right now. _

_-I wouldn´t be so sure… _

_-How **** not? She probably rushed to join the other foreigner._

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I arrived at the zone where the ****** were going to gather and spotted the place, it was a ruin of a building. I already knew they were inside as I saw one slip in.

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_-(__**As soon as I **** beat the ****** out of them I´m calling my after images to take them to the prison, I want to torture the *****!**__ )_

_-Aren´t you a bit too angry? Does the new girl not visiting has been even more of a bother than the meeting?_

_-Shut the *** ** *** up._

_-Fine, we´ll torture them as soon as we get back. ( **^_^ )**  
_

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I quickly made my way inside, I heard someone in the floor above, so I ran through a corridor, I wanted to surprise as many as I could.

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**BAM!**

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_-FU** DAMMIT! __**(I´m gonna beat the crap out of this ***************** first!)**_

**-**_Black… I think we should stop meeting this way._

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I looked down; Bellow me was the new foreigner. I had crash with her… again.

.

_-Bitch…._

_-Bastard…._

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She was wearing that ***** armor, (_**Has she even washed that ****** thing?)**_ in her arm were flashing some moving red points. She saw me looking at the points and her expression changed, she looked at me and her green shining eyes widened.

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-_Move Black!_

_-Want to be on top w*****?- (__**I grinned, last time she was on top**__)._

.

She somehow moved her pelvis and arched her back to push herself a little upwards and in a fast and sudden move she hooked her legs around my waist, crossed her feet at my back and used all her weight and strength to move make us roll to the side behind a wall.

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**BANG! BANG! BANG!**

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Bullets impacted where we had been (_**She ***** tried to save me again!).**_ We got up and she ran to the other end of the corridor before backing away, she looked at the dots on her arm and put her shoulder against the wall at the corner a few meter from a turn.

.

_-How the ****** are we going to run away this time!? It´s your fault!_

_-Run away! You ******* coward! I'm here to capture them! ….What the ******* ***** are you doing here anyways?! _

_-Capture them!? But that's like a 100 times harder!_

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She looked at me and then at her arm again, then at me again and lowered herself a bit against the wall.

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_-Como demonios******************************** (furious and frenetic string of profanities in another language) **********************! _

_._

I didn´t knew the language she was speaking, but If anyone could understand when someone was spitting profanities it had to be me._ - __**(I have never seen anyone else but me cuss so much, dammit!**__ )_ . She took out a small rod from somewhere in her clothes and turned her back on me.

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_-There are 13 coming your way and will appear from that door, 7 more are still in the upper floor, the one who shot us and other 3 are hiding at the right side of the wall pass the next room, there were a few more but they got out of my range, the ***** probably escaped already or are trying to round us. There are only a few in this way, I´ll take them on, but if I see a change to escape I will. Good luck.  
_

_._

_**- (What the ******. How does she ******* know that?!)**__._

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I couldn´t ask her anything because in that instant more bullets came from where the ***** had tried to shot me (_**like that would **** work on me!)**_, I stepped aside and saw that from the other side of the corner she was covering, some **** came out, but she had been prepared and in a swift move she extended the rod and hit the fu**er hard, more funny was the ***** had some spasms even after he was on the ground _**(Oh? She has style. That thing is electrified. I wasn´t wrong, she IS interesting). **_She didn´t waste time and ran away.

_**.**_

I chuckled evilly, (_**You think I will let you get away so easy now that you have my attention?) , **__let´s see if I can catch her before she runs away. I turned to deal with the ***** she mentioned, it's not as if any bullet can kill me. Joker can only be truly killed by a foreigner._

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It didn´t took me long to deal with that scum, they had been exactly where she said they were. My afterimages were already fading in the shadows with the captives and taking them to the prison when the heavy shoots were heard. I went in the direction she had headed and stumbled upon various bodies on my way _**(How considerate of her, she left them unconscious for me to pick up. Fucking bitch… ) )**_ I simply made my way until I reached what could have been a reception, there she was, almost at the entrance but surrounded by three *****, one was already falling down. It was clear she was trying to get away, but was unable to do so and one of the other two was aiming her with a gun while the other had a huge knife.

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_-Need help bitch? – _Casually I asked while I was deciding if I should step in or let her deal with it (_**And probably get killed**_).

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They got distracted and the one with the knife took a charge at her, rather than trying to evade she parried the knife with her root and the ***** was fried, but that gave the other the incentive to shot.

I knew she was hit because of how the impact made her body move and twist, I hadn´t like that, I wanted to be the one to play with her and if she died I wouldn´t be able to do so, I didn´t waste time and shoot the *****. To my surprise she didn´t fall dead, she twisted and used a round kick to sent that *** to the ground, that was unnecessary cause I had killed him.

.

I saw 2 bullet marks on her shoulder, one near where her heart was and I couldn´t help but get angry because I almost let that sound stop before I had time to play with it properly.

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_-Seems like we´re even, bitch-_ I got near hear, she was breathing a bit hard but didn´t seem about to die, perhaps she was in shock.

_-Don´t count on it bastard, I helped you before you got shot, twice. _– She said between breaths (_**fuc***** bi***, she´s … shes *** right, argh!)**_

_-Whatever, you still own me for not visiting me __**(Damn, like I need her to visit me).**_

_-Maybe that one is true –_ she said and examined her shoulder… barely a round mark could be seen.

-(_**What the fuck is that shitty armor made of**_**!?) **Wait what?

_-I respect you and your time, I also consider visiting without a good reason to be rude. But that might just be my perception and I'm again in a cultural shock thing, so why don´t we go for a drink? My treat. _

_**-(Did she just invite ME to get a drink? Ok, she´s definitely mental)**__Your deal bitch, lets go._

.

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* * *

**AT THE MEETING**

.

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It looks like I´m receiving more angry looks than usual, I wonder why? (_**As if I care!**_ XD) , but this is getting boring, everyone is here already and no fighting has break out yet and my counterpart is getting busy, so I put my belt mask in my pocket to spare him the idioticness of the discussions that will surely occur. .

.

_-We are here, so speak already before we behead you incubus!_ – The queen of hearts said.

_-This better be important, I´m preparing my awesome next event-_ Said Gowland.

-_Mary´s events are so boring and dull that it doesn´t really matter_- The hatter countered the park owner.

-_Enough!_ –finally the lizard decided to start the meeting.

.

Before anyone else interrupted Nightmare took the word.

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_-We gathered everyone to talk about the extremely rare occurrence of a 2º foreigner appearing in wonderland while there is still one around._

_-Have the new foreigner being found yet?_ –The ears of the 2º in command of the mafia perked immediately.

-_You mean she haven´t visited Alice yet?_ – The mortician was surprised.

-_Where is the new nee-chan_? – One of the bloody twins asked

-_She´s been at the castle dirtying the books of the library for the past time changes_.- Huffed the white bunny.

-_You mean she got lost in the library?_ – asked the lost knight.

-_She seems to have been lost for many time changes_ – said the Cheshire cat –_Or perhaps someone kept her from going somewhere. _

.

At that mention most of them turned to look at me (_**So they think I kept her locked or something?**_). I felt an impact in my body (_**Seems that my counterpart is having fun**_), and then a force around my waist (_**And he´s quite excited, something good must have happened, probably killed some scum in a gruesome way in front of their peers**_).

.

_-In any case it's amazing that there is a 2º foreigner…_ - The incubus tried to continue

_-And who brought her?_ – The hatter interrupted, he clearly wasn´t pleased now that his ***** wasn´t such a unique prize, was he?

_-No one did, she said that she jumped into the hole by her own will- _The marquis answered very eager to get Blood angrier.

_-You mean Nightmare didn´t open the way?-_ The march hare looked baffled, but probably all present were.

_-That means that Wonderland itself wants her here-_ Grey said twisting a cigarette with his fingers.

_-But why would wonderland want another foreigner if Alice is already here?_ –the dormouse squeaked meekly.

-_Perhaps because Alice choose wrong-_ concluded the grinning knight.

.

Blood tensed and the hatters were about to start a fight (_**Oh? Black is VERY amused and exited, he must be hunting**_) anyway, tapping into my other´s sensation right now is way more interesting that this meeting.

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-_And what makes anyone think the new foreigner will choose wonderland in any case?_ – Everyone turned to look at the clock master- _You know there is no guarantee that she will choose to stay, and she has avoided contact with anyone as much as she has been able to, why else would she had be lost for so many time changes?_

_-Oh. C´mon Julius! She´s also completely fascinated by wonderland, I´d say Wonderland has already captivated Scherzo._

_-Who?-_ Asked Gowland.

-_You mean Miss Rondo_? – The mouse asked?

-_What nonsense are you saying, she told us herself we refer to her as Discanto._

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I decided it was a good moment to step in this conversation.

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- _Trust is the most basic bond and she doesn't even care about it, she obviously won't care about you either. What if she finds Wonderland interesting, she is probably interesting in trying to get away. Its clear that miss "Aria" doesn´t trust anyone here if she doesn´t even say her name, so far she has said "you can call me…", but never "my name is…" , she has given everyone a different "code" as she calls it. _

_._

_-Not at all, all those codes are actually related._

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For the first time in his existence the king of hearts found himself as the center of attention. Of course I already knew she used different names, but didn´t knew which others she had used.

.

_-Speak already! What do you mean by that?_ –The queen ordered.

.

_-I think the names she gave are either very significant or not so whatsoever, but given that all of them are related…_ -The king felt the annoyance of everyone – _well… The first name she used was Aria, right?_

-_That is correct I was the first one she met.- _ha,ha, everyone stiffened and looked angry and or troubled, how fun. _  
_

_-She then used "Rondo" at the amusement park?_ – The king inquired.

_- Yes_- the cat confirmed, but his flattened ears and moving tail also confirmed his displeasure.

-_After that she used Scherzo?_ – The king looked at the tower´s crew and they nodded – _and finally she changed it to "Discanto" at the castle._

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The king of hearts waited a second to see if we had caught what he meant, after a moment of silence he spoke again.

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-_An "aria" is a musical piece for one voice in an opera, a "rondo" refers to music that is fast and vivacious, a "scherzo" or "scherzi" is either a part of a symphony or a fast-moving humorous composition which may or may not be part of a larger work, while "discanto" is used for a voice that is above others on a musical piece.  
_.

Everyone deadpanned and before anyone said anything the queen made her voice be loud and clear on what she wanted and had planned.

.

-_That doesn´t matter! We´ll refer to her as she prefers. The next ball room dance will be held shortly, and she shall be present no matter what name she decides to wear. The invitations will be sent to you soon._

_-WHAT! ANOTHER BALL! That's not possible Vivaldi, the next event is mine! Besides, aren´t you tired from the last event!?_ – Gowland looks eager to host his event. But I doubt she is tired, since a while ago hosting events and using power has been easier for all roleholders. I wonder why?

-_Non sense, we still require to host our event given that last time it was so rudely interrupted that it doesn´t count. –_She got up to leave and was followed by the rest of the inhabitants of hearts.

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_**-(Black is drinking? And is ….?)- **_I was done with it,they were surely going to continue discussing meaningless things, so I slipped into the shadows and simply leaved the meeting without they noticing and went back to the circus, I was very bored here but I was also very curious as to why I was getting drunk and having fun somewhere else, however that would have to wait till I ask myself, for now it´s best if I cut off our connection, I don´t want to taste alcohol if I´m not drinking it myself. Besides... there are new prisoners to meet **^_^**

.

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* * *

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**SOMEWHERE IN A BAR IN CLOVER (BLACK´S POV)**

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We entered a small and shady bar in clover, probably a tug´s gathering place, less crowded and that´s better for me. As soon as we entered the bar went quiet and looked at us, there weren't that many people and as soon as they saw me they returned to whatever they were doing, I knew the majority would scramble away as soon as they could, so we´ll probably have the place for us in just some minutes. She went to the most lonesome and private corner and seated down. I followed and we were immediately attended.

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_-So what will it be? I´d prefer a vodka or a tequila right now but anything you want is fine. –_ She was cracking her neck so hard I could hear it clearly (_**good she isn´t a sissy foreigner). **_

_**.**_

**FLASHBACK:**

**.**

Her attackers were on the floor, my after images would come for the two still alive and she had invite me a drink. Had she not been warned about me?

She then pickpocketed the fallen men. She raised their cash on her hand and put it away in her pocket with a happy and carefree expression. I can´t remember when was the last time I laughed like that.

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**END FLASHBACK**

**.**

-Vodka- I merely said

-Bring a bottle and one of tequila and another of whisky- she added to the order for the waiter.

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And the waiter went away fast.

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She served a glass of vodka and gave it to me before she served herself, I didn´t know why but that small gesture felt nice, then she lightly clashed her glass with mine – _Salud!_

_._

_-What did you say?_

_-Salud? Oh, it's like a brindis/cheers or something from where I came from._

-(_**Im gonna take the chance to interrogate her, I´m surely gonna learn something to use against the other roleholders.**_)

-_I´ve been needing a drink since I came into wonderland, so thank you for the chance jerkass._

_-__**(Or maybe I´m just gonna have fun tonight) **__Your welcome, bitch._

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* * *

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**WHITE´S POV**

**.**

**.**

I felt my other self getting near, and my, what a sight I was, probably worse than last time. I took him to his room and threw him to his bed unceremoniously and went to the bathroom to get a trashcan he could use a bucket.

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-_Where is my hat?_ –he slurrishly asked before he started snoring lightly.

_-Probably in the same place you left your earring, and your tie, and your jacket... – _I´ll keep myself disconnected, no way am I going to feel the terrible hangover my counterpart is going to have .

.

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* * *

_._

**AT CLOVER TOWER THE NEXT DAY**

_._

-Nightmare entered his office followed by Grey, a slight sound coming from the couch alerted them that someone was there, they got close and there was she, the new foreigner. She was sprawled on the couch completely asleep using a jacket as a blancket, covering her eyes and nose was the warden´s hat, from her ear dangled a golden double hop earring, the bottom of her braid was using a red man´s tie as a bow.

.

_-Is she dreaming….? – Grey asked._

_-No, and right now I´m very glad for that. Grey? _– Nightmare was blank

_-Yes?_

_-Don´t we have work to do? I think we should start, like, right now._

_-Yes, we should._

_._

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**Hi, I´m gonna revise the past chapters to make the reading more dynamic and the story a bit faster cause I think the rhythm is too slow, maybe even I´ll merge some chapters, so while I do that please tell me your ideas and if you think if I should turn this into a romance and with who? I know she still has to meet other characters she will.**

**Do you want to know what happened din their little drunken adventure ? And would you prefer her to keep one name in particular?  
**

**ANYWAYS, the more reviews I get the faster I´ll update.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi, I checked and updated all chapters from 1 to 6 and added a few more details, but more important info and heavier stuff will come in the other chapters, I think the story still starts a bit slow but gradually catches up rhythm, so check them please and tell me what you think about them.**

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**CHAPTER 12**

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**GREY´S POV**

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We continued working for a while before she woke up. She mumbled something, sat up and then fell over again, she covered her face with the warden´s hat (_**How´d she get that?!)**_ and tried to continue sleeping, it was obvious that she couldn´t so she finally got up, yawned and looked at us.

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_-…hi?-_ She asked quietly, we stopped what we were doing and looked at her.

_-Hi, and good morning…_ -Nightmare began.

_-Shush! __Not so loud please, estoy experimentando los efectos de la cruda realidad… __(__**Author´s note: it's a game of words and lingo that means that her hangover is very bad**__)…._

_-Excuse us?_ _**(What language was that?).**_

-_Sorry, sometimes happens that I change language accidentally… How did I got here?... Oh yeah…must´ve been fun, wish I could remember all of it… but before anything.. Do you have a glass of water or coffee by change? _

_._

She asked while holding the hat against her temple. I passed her a cup of coffee and to my surprise she raised the right leg of her pants from a hidden compartment in her armored suit she took a pill and took it (_**That suit must cover her full body**_). I also noticed that she twitched a little when she moved her arm.

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_-Is your shoulder alright?_

_._

She reached for her shoulder and I could see two round impact marks on her shoulder piece, it took her a few tries but eventually she unlatched her suit to check herself, I didn´t know if because of the her clearly terrible hangover or because of the hit. She slid the suit just above her breast,(_**I can´t see any bra strip),**_ I heard Nightmare cough and put a handkerchief on his bleeding nose. There on her shoulder was a purple circle.

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_-Yeah, I got shot yesterday but it looks fine…_

_-You got shot! –_Nightmare and I screamed at the same time and she recoiled from the noise.

_-Not so loud, please! – _I could smell faintly the alcohol, she must have a really, REALLY bad hangover.-_(__** But she is a foreigner, she could have been killed so easily! Has it been alright to let her wander?)-**_ I couldn´t believe it, she actually got shot! And there hadn´t been anyone there to save her, we were all at the meeting… all except for Joker´s warden half.

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She growled slightly and took two more pills, she searched her other leg and took out a very small jar that contained some sort of balm which she applied at the purple patch of skin. It looked nasty on her pale skin. Nightmare got up from his desk and went to sit beside her and spoke softly.

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-_**A**__re you alright?- _I knew master Nightmare was worried, I was too.

_-I´m still alive, aren't I? – _She said a bit too defensively and closed her suit. Definitely her headache didn´t help to her modals.

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I was afraid that what Joker had said at the meeting was true, but maybe the clown was right, she didn´t seem to trust us, she hasn´t ask for anyone´s help even when she is so defenseless. Or perhaps she simply is too afraid, she is alone in another world, she was lost for a while and someone tried to kill her, could that be it?

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_-Is just that we were worry about you?_ – Nightmare said trying to calm the tensions.

_-Why would you? You don´t know me and I am…. Forget it, I came to ask you some questions, but I can´t even seem to recall what I was going to ask you, but ….. Why do you have so much paperwork? –_Her eyes had traveled to the pile of Work on Nightmare´s desktop in a very spiteful way.

_-Because Grey always brings me too much work, It's terrible!_

_-I agree, if evil exist then paperwork is evil-_ she pinched the brick of her nose and close tightly her eyes for a minute. I was taken aback _**(It isn´t even THAT much paperwork!)**_ Nightmare have been working all morning, it isn´t so terrible.

_-You agree? I knew you were a nice person!_ – Nightmare said and tried to hug her but she put her forearm at his throat. (_**Great, now he has an excuse to slack of**_f)

_-I´m not! And looking so much paperwork makes my headache worse. Paperwork is inefficient, time devouring and unsustainable. Why don´t you digitalize it? I´m also sure you can automate most of it. Heck! I´m sure that you can reduce it considerably with a mere operational & process analysis to enhance functionality based on area models._

_._

Nightmare and I looked at each other somewhat speechless; she let out a groan and got up to check some papers.

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-Fine- she growled - Let me check this papers and I´ll show you.

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She went to the piled papers on Nightmare´s desk as if it offended her personally, It worried me that her scowl could very well have been that of the warden or the queen of hearts, the fact that she was still wearing his hat didn´t help to settle my worries at all.

_._

_-May I…? _– She had taken some papers to check them out but didn´t do so, she was asking us permission to check them.

_-Go on ahead-_ Nightmare didn´t care as long as he could avoid work.

_-What are you gonna do?-_ I couldn´t comprehend what she was trying to do.

_-I´m gonna save a bunch of trees from murder. _

_._

She took some more random paper and went up to seat at Nightmare´s chair, from somewhere in her pants she took a black rigid case and from it she took out a pair of rectangular glasses with a fancy butterfly wing design at the sides of the frames and a small box attached over one of the eyes (**Author note: Imagine a mix between Bayonetta´s glasses and google glasses**), she started reading the papers and took a blank page to make some annotations, for a while she did this with documents. After that she stood up and put her hands on her lower back, from somewhere (_**Where did she kept that?)**_ there she took out some sort of polished black thin thing the size of small notebook (**Author note: imagine a small tablet notebook**) and took the change to crack her back and neck. She put the thing in the table at the side of her notes and pressed something, the thing started emitting light and she started pressing different zones of it while occasionally looking at her notes.

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I was mesmerized, she looked completely professional, she was working with the diligence and seriousness Nightmare has never shown (_**I think she has gained my respect**_). When she was done she reclined a bit on the chair and made it turn sideways then she crossed her legs and let a small smirk grace her lips, she did it so naturally… so… sexy?

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-_Where is your printer?_

_-Mmhhh… printer? I think we have on one the lower floor. – _Nightmare must have gotten tired from seen someone work.

_-Whoever did this has no idea of delegating or info transmits, most of this stuff is irrelevant for management functions._

_-Hey!_

_-She´s right Grey._

-_Just give me the IP or even the email and I´ll sent the file, maybe there isn´t external net here but I can pass this to your intranet if you give me the proxy. _

_-Can you repeat please that so that we understand?_ - Nightmare said. She wasn´t amused by Nightmare´s reply.

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She blinked a few times and then face-palmed… hard…

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-You´ve gotta be ******* kidding me! - I think she had passed too much time near the warden, and that was VERY worrying. I was almost afraid to know what had happened last night, especially with the note on a report saiying that Joker had been terrorizing some parts of clover. The strange thing was that the report said that there were the 2 jokers terrorizing the streets, of course it was more of a comment as none would dare to against him, however only one of them had been at the meeting with us. (_**Notes mentioning the Joker´s terrorizing the population… and if the faceless gathered enough courage to send a note regarding Joker, then they really must have seen something incredibly disturbing and horrible or were subjected to it **_). I looked at her and saw the warden´s hat decorating her head (_**It actually looks good on her**_). Could it be that she….

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-_Fine_! – Again, she moved her hands to her back and took out another box, bigger than the other and with looked like a camera lens, and a cable to connect it to the first one (**Author note: a small projector**).

-_Where are you keeping those?!-_ She ignored Nightmare and moved the bigger box to point to a wall, then went to the windows and closed them. She returned to the desk and pressed some buttons on the boxes and the two came to life.

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To our amazement the bigger one started projecting stuff on the wall, mostly the format of a document; she turned to us and explained.

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-_Here, if you use this format with the basic rules I´m stating you will only need 1 or 2 pages, 1 sheet of paper, NO MORE…. FOR ANYTHING! I´ll write it down for you. You will also save around 40-60% in paper waste and storing space, not to mention that this will reduce times in all the information chain exponentially. _

_._

While she wrote the format in paper we examined the projection.

-(_**It´s brilliant!)- **_She reduced all the needed information of a full report into a simple format with only the important data clarified and reduced. It was easy to understand and anyone could fill it, it was so… so…. Efficient.

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_-It´s amazing_! – Nightmare was overjoyed at how less work he´ll have to do.

-_Glad you like it. Hope you are still as happy once I tell you how much this has cost you. – _She grinned. – _I was a white neck mercenary, guess I still am. I do not work for free._

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We seriously hadn´t expect that, specially the mercenary part. Sure, that format is a blessing and does deserve recognition and compensation, but what does she meant by "white neck mercenary" ?, fortunately Nightmare interrupted.

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- That's it! You´re hired! I don´t care, just take as much work away from me as you can!... mmhhh….What do you mean by "white neck mercenary" ?

-Hired?... ok? I guess…. I must warn you that you will get exactly what you pay for, no extra loyalty included, just the final results, and I´ll work only on partial time and to my personal disposition. You can use me to improve and enhance or collapse and destroy organizations, companies, governments… mmhhh… you can say that white neck mercenaries use the so called white neck jobs to fulfill greater purposes or missions rather than using common weapons and firearms. One of my specialties is in informatics sciences, I find solutions to problems, and even detect the problems when needed, and I solve them by applying techniques and technology. I also excel at designing systems thanks to my experience as a videogame designer among many other things, but I guess that is irrelevant here.

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-_Game designer? _– What did she meant by that?

_-A virtual world creator_. _Of Couse that was a long time ago, I used to be such a geek, a friki, an otaku. Way long before things happened… –_She said and her look became a bit hazy and tired, she must have only mention it because she was still suffering her hangover, she abruptly changed the subject. – _But you already said what you want, so explain to me the flow of data in functions and processes here and I´ll do something about it._

-_Grey do as she says! Show her around and you can also go and buy more coffee –Nightmare was really eager to skip work._

_._

She put off her things back to whenever she kept them and wrote some numbers in a paper than gave it to Nightmare.

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-_Also add whatever I get for breakfast today._

_-WHAT?!_

_-Lets go now if its ok with you Grey._

_.Yes, lets go. (**You deserve it, it´s the price for being a slacker**!)- _I let Nightmare read my thoughts on that.

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I took her around the tower and explained how we did things, she kept taking notes by pressing a "screen" in her arm and sometimes asking questions to the faceless, when we were finished she said that she´ll continue on another day, so we head to get her breakfast and to buy some coffee.

We were seated at the gourmet café where I normally buy the coffee, she was having a not so light breakfast and we were alone, this was my chance to ask her some things and get to know her better. She was quite baffling, very different from Alice in many aspects, but she was also a vulnerable foreigner, she probably has not realized how dangerous Wonderland is, she got shot and she almost didn´t react, I think she is in some sort of shock or trauma or something, maybe that's why she allowed herself to get drunk while Joker was around…

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-So miss _Scherzo… or would you prefer Rondo or Discanto, maybe Aria?_

_-Any is fine –__She answered as if it was nothing. I didn´t know if she looked at me because she was still wearing the warden hat and it covered her eyes. She said that the sunlight bothered her, which didn´t explain why she was wearing his jacket and had his earring too._

_-__Why change your name in every territory? I know that maybe you are afraid and don´t trust us…_

_-Of course I don´t trust you. Don´t take it personal, I just don´t trust anyone and that why I'm still alive. But if you consider that having one code for everyone to refer to me is less confusing, then I´ll use the first one I used in this world. Call me Aria … yeah…mmhh….Aria Hadron Scherzi, that sounds like a nice name. I´ll tell the others to call me so too when I see them._

_-And why not your name, this is another world, so there is no problem of anyone knowing you here._

_._

She raised her head and looked straight into my eyes, never have I´ve seen such an intense gaze, so strong, so raging, so tired, so defiant… so captivating. Something told me that maybe she was more than what we expected, I didn´t know what to make out of her.

_._

_-It´s been a long time since my name was used on me and I shall never use it again. – __She knew I was going to ask her wh__y- That is my business Grey. We all have things about ours pasts that are ours to share or to hide. One's past is what one is, but the past is also the prologue for the present , even if I lost my name and despite anything else, I shall never regret anything I decided myself. Do not expect me to go telling my story just because others are curious. In any case it is irrelevant, I´ll be here for perhaps a few months and then I´ll return to my world and my presence will fade from your lives like dust in the wind. _

_._

She went back to her breakfast while I pondered her words, they had been so poetic but so rash and filled with a sort of melancholy even when her distorted voice sounded quite cold and hollow.

_._

_-(__**She is right, there are things I wouldn´t like her to know about my past either…).**_

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We returned to the tower, on the way back she stopped near an alley and entered it to grab something from the floor, it was a small kitten.

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-_Where is the closest animal shelter?_ – She asked examining the kitten and holding it with care.

_-What´s an animal shelter?_ – The name was clear, but we didn´t have something like that in wonderland.

_-You´ll see, you´ll see.._- She pet the kitten with care. I couldn´t read her expression. (_**Maybe you aren´t so bad Aria.)**_

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We left the kitten in Nightmare´s office. She said that she would come to work in a few days to give us time to implement her first format change and she wanted to go see Julius because she had some questions for him. I took her to the door that connects to the other tower and she asked me about how it worked, I couldn´t answer her questions, so she said she´d check it on the other side and mumbled something about worm holes and started a little chuckles that turned into cackling and ended in a mad laughter, then she screamed

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-"_**THERE MUST BE SO MUCH SCIENCE!" .**_

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She put a small round thing in the wall, waved goodbye and I saw her leave giggling. I stood there paralyzed for I don´t know how long.

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_-I truly don´t know what to think of you._ (_**She also has the scariest laugh I´ve ever heard and I don´t think it´ll improve at all if her voice weren´t distorted. And I´m an ex-assassin who has seen and heard many things!)**_.

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**JULIUS POV**

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I had been working as always when the door to Clover tower opened. I had expected Nightmare to come to hide from Grey, so I didn´t even raised my eyes until I heard the scariest laugh I´ve ever heard and there she was.

Any villain would be envious of that laughter and with the warden´s hat and jacket she did look villainous (_**THE WARDEN´S CLOTHES?!**_!). It had been almost a physical hit and it made me stop my work, I didn´t know if it had been her laughter of what she was wearing. She turned around, and when she saw me she stopped laughing and settled with a maniac grin. A really scary maniac grin.

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-_Hi Julius!_ –She waved happily- _I have some questions, but for now there is something I must absolutely test and research. __** FOR SCIENCE!**__ – _She screamed with happiness, excitement, glee and pleasure_ -So don´t mind me._

_._

She turned around, took of the warden´s jacket and put it over her shoulders and started pressing her forearm´s thing while examining the wall and the door (_**like when she examined Ace´s chest**_), I probably got a little red when I remembered that. She then took out something more.

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-The blue tooth signal is out of range. We truly are quite away!

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I watched her for a few minutes and then shook off my paralysis just when she addressed me to ask about the door connecting the towers, I had to explain to her how the lands sometimes move, I even had to use some clock parts as models to try an illustrate it because she wouldn´t be satisfied until she understood it and would not let me alone about it.

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-_You mean that the territories here trespass time and space to overlay and connect or disconnect with each other? Do the territories more completely or partially? Do they have clear boundaries or the edges mix?_ _If a territory of those under war gain control of more terrain does it moves with the new or old territory?_– She was incredibly curious; I practically had her over me looking me in the eyes too closely for comfort.

-Y_es. Completely. The edges are those of the territories under a role holders command and are normally clear because of the differences. It moves with the new territory. Troublesome woman, I have work to do!_

_-And you can continue doing it but before answer me some more questions, please_?- She looked really eager.

-_Fine, but be fast.._

_-OK! Some more general questions. What about the countries of Spades and Diamond? What happens if YOU get killed MR. master of life? How do the revival clock things work? Can you improve the clocks by adding extra parts of different technology? Can a person live if the clock in his or her chest is partially damaged?..._

_-WAIT, Those are too many questions, woman. And how do you know about Spades and Diamond?- _She really was troublesome, asking so many questions.

-_Fine, fine, just answer me the thing about the lands Mr. god of life, the rest you can tell me on other occasion._

_-(sigh…. __**God of life?)…**__ It was a long time ago, various generations of role holder´s back, one day everyone simply lost contact with Spades and not even the Caterpillar or the Cheshire cat could reach it or it´s inhabitants._

_-Boris?_

_-There was another cat then, but yes, he can use "doors" to go anywhere_ – She took a mental note of it. - _As for Diamond we´re not entirely sure what happened, It gradually became hard to get there and at some point it got stuck in a past time of a few roleholders until no once could get there either. We believe that it had something to do with the dodo taking various roles._

_-The dodo? Various roles?_

_-Jericho Bermuda, He was doomed to disappear as his role disappeared from other countries._

_-Huh? Well, I´ll ponder that later… thank you Julius. And if you don´t mind I´ll continue my research for a while._

_-Even if I do mind you will continue anyways, just don´t interrupt me… and please do not laugh…_

_-A new place where my "Tasha´s terrible ,horrible horrendous laughter" has been banned, I must have a record by now ( __** XD**__) . Sure thing Julius. (_**Author note: Tasha´s laughter is a spell from dungeon&dragons that literally causes anyone who hear it to be paralyzed and lose the chance to do a number of their next actions)**_  
_

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She went back to examine the door and I went back to fixing clocks, we settled into a comfortable working silence with only the noise of our tools, before I fell asleep on my desk I saw her still playing with the door.

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-(_**Troublesome woman… you need to rest…zzzzzzzzzzz**_)

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**ACE´S POV**

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I arrived to the clock tower very late at night. By now Julius was probably about to collapse from exhaustion if he hadn´t already, so I didn´t make much noise. When I entered his office there he was, completely out and sleeping on his desk again. I went to get him so I could take him to his room then a small noise made me turn my head and prepare my sword.

By the door that lead to Clover there was a figure on the floor, I could recognize that hat and jacket anywhere, I must have left my smile fade into a small shocked expression ( **:o** ). I went to check and when I got near I could finally see that it was actually the new foreigner, sleeping on the floor with the warden´s hat on and his jacket as a blanket. Of course that didn´t made the situation any less confusing.

My grin returned as I had an idea…. And idea involving Julius, whateverhernameis and me. I just had to take care of not waking them up while moving the bodies…. Not that I have to worry much, I know Julius is practically in a coma and the faint smell of alcohol and sweat from her tells me she is just as knockout.

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_**-(This is going to be fun in the morning)**_

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**I´m waiting for your reviews!**

**.**

**She finally got the change for using the battle cry "FOR SCIENCE!", too bad it overwhelmed her. We got to know a bit more about her past before "something" happened.**

**.**

**What will Ace do? What really happened with joker´s little drunken adventure of terrorizing people? Do you like that I add the emoticons? What do you think about Grey´s part? And Do you like the name she choose?**

**The thing we know for certain is that Nightmare is quite happy have less work (he forced everyone to make everything again in that format so he had more free time).**

**To Sam-i-am: I´ll take your ideas and perhaps give a chapter for bonding with the guys ;)**

**.**

**So review please, the more reviews the faster I´ll update.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I revised all past chapters (I hope I got rid of the orthographic errors), so check them out, specially check out chapter 10 because I included some heavy stuff for the story in that chapter. And if you find anything strange or other error let me know so I explain better or correct things :)  
**

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**CHAPTER 13**

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Julius woke up in his bed with two weights, each at his sides, he slowly opened his eyes and saw the new foreigner at his left with her right arm across his waist and at his right side Ace, with his face buried in his chest and his left arm over his hip very close up to a very sensible area. Then Ace lowered his hand and Julius finally registered the situation and rose up suddenly. Unfortunately he woke the strange and paranoid foreigner up.

She moved to stand but remained in a somewhat crouched position over Julius while her upper torso made a twist, her right arm moving away from his waist and the left one drawing an arc unsheathing her hidden blade and struck it where Julius head had been mere moments before. Fortunately for Julius he managed to dodge, unfortunately for him Ace had woken up too and had raised his tough head in time to hit Julius in the nose, unfortunately too because he wasn´t that awake either and had unsheathed his own sword from nowhere and made an automatic move to struck the other person wielding a blade. Fortunately for the foreigner she had managed to parry Ace´s hit, but the blunt strength of his blow forced her to kneel, putting all her weight plus the force of the knave´s blow on the knee she had lowered, which was VERY unfortunately for Julius because her knee was just above the very sensible masculine part of his persona that made him move suddenly while between two very unstable blade wielders in the first place.

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_-AAAAAHHHH! _

_-whatsssss…. e… fshhhja? _

_-ha,ha,ha I knew it was gonna be fun! ( __**:D**__ )_

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And that´s how the knave of hearts and the clock master learned what the Cheshire cat and the dormouse had already discovered; that waking the new foreigner up suddenly was (depending on who you ask)a bad (or funny) idea.

After some more confusing moments the three were finally awake… more or less.

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-Urggghhhh…..

-_I don´t even care how it came to this, guess I´ll go find a hotel and come back later…_-She raised her left arm and smelled herself-…_ufff, I need a bath… well… see you later guys._ - She turned to leave and took the warden´s hat and coat from the table Ace had put them over with his own coat.

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Julius saw her take Joker´s clothes and she was about to leave to look for a hotel, there was something very wrong with that picture.

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_-Wait… why would you go to a hotel?- _Julius asked while trying to ignore his pain.

_-Because I can smell myself, and I smell dirt, sweat and even lingering alcohol from the other night with Black , I should ask him why I have his clothes... anyways if I can smell myself it means that I seriously need a bath, also to sleep a little more and maybe later I´ll go eat something…_

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_-Black… you mean Joker!? THE WARDEN!?_ – Julius was shocked and horrified. So much that he momentarily forgot his pain. So far it seemed that Joker was trapping her into one of his games, like he had done to Alice. They couldn´t hold a foreigner against her will, it was against the rules, but if a foreigner went to them willingly…. This one was already quite messed up already , maybe they have already mess with her mind. He couldn´t let her go to them.

_-Why don´t you use Alice`s old room here?-_ Ace had sensed what his friend felt, but he didn´t share his worries, sure, this new foreigner was very entertaining and far weirder than Alice, she was…. He didn´t knew exactly, but he thought that perhaps in a way it was better if she disappeared before she leaved them all with that horrible sensation of losing another game and not only his usual sensation of being lost. On the other hand he also felt that she wasn´t lost at all, she knew exactly where she was all the time, and perhaps she could help him find his way. Alice had been a deception in that regard, but perhaps this strange girl was different from Alice in that too.

_-Sure, why not… _

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Julius told her where Alice´s old room was and she went there on her own.

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**JULIUS POV**

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_-Idiot, what did you…_

_-Julius… she parried my blow_ – Ace stated dryly but with a hint of happiness.

_-And both of you almost cut me to pieces._ – I was very angry and my nose and my… THE PAIN….URGGHHH….the pain.

_-Julius... She. Parried. MY. Blow._ – Ace emphasized – _And I was caught by surprise when you woke us up. I just reacted, I wasn´t controlling the strength of the blow. She reacted in time to parry and received all the force of MY BLOW and her arm is still attached to her. Maybe I found another practice partner different than Mr. Lizard._

_-Like hell Ace! She is a foreigner. You could have killed her easily. _

_-And so what? Isn´t it better if she dies before any of us gets hopes and then loses another game? Or are you aiming for her already? I KNOW! You enjoyed tonight´s trio!_

_._

Ace grabbed the back of my head with one got very close to speak in my ear.

_._

_-Because next time I can get sure that none of us is wearing any clothes…_

_._

_**-(What the..! ACE!)**_

_._

_-Hey Julius can I borrow some mineral oil from your des….k – _In the doorway she stood looking at us_ – Ok, I´ll go get the oil and leave you two alone, I´ll be in that other room for a while, so don´t worry, I won´t interrupt you….mmmhhh… Have fun!_

_-Oh! Sorry, would you like to join us whateveryournameis?- Ace asked quite _happy.

_-Didn´t I do so last night? By the way, I decided to use Aria Hadron Scherzi as name while I´m here. –_She raised her eyebrow at Ace´s suggestion.

_-Yeah, but this is another go. Shouldn´t you be red with embarrassment or something? Alice would have run away by now._

_._

I realized the position we were in, Ace was practically over me and with his hand in the back of my head and our faces so close … from her point of view it must have looked as if we were….!

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-_GET OFF ME ACE! – _I shoved the knight aside while my face (and other parts) were boiling.

-_Why would I feel embarrassed? And what would this Alice girl have to do with anything? Don´t worry for privacy I´ll go take a bath anyways. I´ll be in there for a while, if I´m not is because I already left. – _She turned and leaved.

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I felt Ace hugging me his breath in my ear.

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_-Shall we continue then..?_ –He purred and licked my ear.

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I hit him in the ribs and shoved him again, he just laughed. I need to go get a bag of ice.

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_._

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**ARIA´s POV**

_._

I was in the shower taking a needed bath. I had checked my arm, the blow had been hard but I had managed to redirect the force and translate it to my knee with that posture and with the help of the inner layer of my suit, having it an insulator and impulse conductor liquid was very useful, basic Newton and fluid´s laws saved me a lot of pain and so had my suit, on auto it sent me the electric impulse of where the blow was coming and I had managed to parry if barely, his hit had been so strong that it leaved a dent in my side razor blade and it is made from an alloy of tungsten, beryllium and titanium with an over structure or demetriou! (_**Just what the hell Ace´s sword is made of?! And what about his strength! How many psi´s did I sustained?**_).

I finished my bath and put on the lacy black thong I carried with me in my suit as an extra (I had another one on my camel backpack), these were small enough to fit in a very small compartment and allowed more skin contact with the suit´s interior insulation and circuit layer which transmitted the electric impulses, they were also easy and quick to wash and dry and I did so with the one I had been using. I had also cleaned the silicon cups that I used as bra and was waiting for them to be completely dry. Meanwhile I put on the extra silicon black nipple covers that I carry with me an in case of dire necessity, but since the only ones I had been able to get under the war circumstances were "burlesque" pastries they were heart shaped and had a small tassel hanging from their center and that felt a bit weird with the pressure of the suit. I had gotten them, my undies and some other stuff from an abandoned sex shop in an evacuated zone of one of the cities that I had taken cover in what to me appeared to be a long time ago.(_**Who would have thought of finding good quality batteries, energy pills, topic anesthetics and other useful stuff in such a place?!)**_

_**.**_

That had been quite the experience, back then I had needed to take refuge for a few days in what was to become one of the first cities to riot. At one side of the small city the "rebels" (or soon to be rebels) were concentrating, and on the other side just outside the city the army was gathering. I had been more or less in the middle stripe close enough to the outsides that when the moment came I would be able to run, but still far away enough from both sides. Also the building was old and was made of concrete over a heavy metal structure, not those fast to build materials like pre-made panels and was connected to an apartment above where I got other supplies and provisions.

It had been the best and really only choice at the moment. I knew a lot about history, tactics, strategy (and politics even if I despise them) to know how things would proceed. The army would advance over their own citizens and the city would become a battlefield. I was a lot more than a mere foreigner caught up in their strife, I couldn´t let any side capture me or even know I was there. That would have been disastrous on an international politic level given the tensions around the world. So I calculated my escape and took shelter.

The fact that there was a sex shop there was mere causality, but it turned out playing in my favor. Many of the "toys" there required batteries and used silent motors and I knew condoms could be used to prevent water for entering a gun´s barrel; for some odd reason there were also pain killers and skin anesthetics, even disinfectants gels. There had also been a lot of things I never knew existed and some of them I couldn´t figure out what purpose they served. During my stay there I found a booklet behind the counter that explained the business, apparently the shop had was part of a chain and was either about to be inaugurated or had done so not too long ago. The booklet had been filled with a bunch of financial and psychological data, that was something I could understand. The science of sex and attraction and boy there was a lot, from psychology to chemistry. Over the few days I stayed there I also read other books from the products of store, to me the kamasutra was like the Decameron or the tales of Canterbury , just another book to read.

Quite frankly I had never taken much interest in sex, even my first time had been more an experiment to understand what all the fascination was about, but it had proven to be quite irrelevant (_**In fact I could count the times I´d had sex with the fingers of one hand and still have fingers left to count something else**_). I attributed it more the psychological trill people got from the approaches their societies had towards the subject and their own personal inhibitions and philias. However I wasn´t a hypocrite that would deny the topic just because in some places and to some people it was taboo, I had no problem with sex nor interest in it, and like with most things I would try it again if I felt like it.

I passed the few days I stayed there learning about a topic I had previously knew little about, and when the moment came I took my stuff and whatever I found useful to me or things that I could trade later on and escaped from the city. Later on I learned how the place had become a bloodbath. How the civil leaders of the city (labeled as terrorist rebels by the government) had been executed. It had been spring and the event had reminded people about the past, and the occurrences in that city and some others were dubbed "The 2° Easter raising", and it soon became a real rising.

_**.**_

I came back from memory trip and found that it was a good moment for me to clean it up my suit. Since it is a hydrophobic material it is practically impossible to get dirty and just by passing an electrostatic free cloth I could clean most of it, but I also wanted to clean a bit deeper the internal layer, and my pants would have to wait till I get another pair, with all that´s happening I forgot to get an extra pair.

My boots and long socks were in the floor and I had my pants and the warden´s hat lying by my opened suit over the bed, I was seated cleaning the inner layer I was only wearing my underwear and over it Black´s jacket, as I remembered my little stay in that shop, I saw me in the a mirror that was at the wall and put on the hat. I definitely looked sexy, like a photo of those small sexy costumes. When Boris entered the room abruptly I was taken by surprise, I was being attacked and was in disadvantage, he had plan very well his timing. I got up fast with my baton in hand and rushed to attack, better to hit first than to be unable to hit at all, I took a swing at him which he managed to dodge with the grace of a scared cat and when he took upon the picture he screamed rather girly.

Moments later Julius and Ace came running into the room, Julius had a pistol in his hand and Ace had his sword ready.

.

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* * *

**BORIS POV**

_._

I has been A little while since I´ve seen either Alice or Rondo. It has bothered me what Joker said but I didn´t knew where she was, after the meeting I went to the castle but she wasn´t there, so I decided to visit Alice and found out she hadn´t leaved the hatter´s mansion at all since the ball fiasco. I offered to take her out to the amusement park and take her back but she refused because Blood might get mad! (_**damn hatter**_), we spoke for a while and she mentioned that she missed some of the dresses she had left at the clock tower back when she was still living there before moving in with Blood (the hatter apparently choses her clothes now), so I decided that I should get her some of those.

I opened a door to Alice´s old room in the clock tower and didn´t bother to sneak in. The clock tower is probably the less crowded place in all Wonderland and the mortician is always in his office working.

I looked around the room to locate the closet and from the corner of my eye I managed to see someone coming at me and I jump aside in time. I saw the warden with a feminine frame wearing only his jacket and hat, naturally I screamed.

As soon as I was a little back I saw that it actually was Rondo, and I breathed a sight. In that moment the door opened again and the mortician made his way inside along with the knight (_**SHIT!). **_The little distraction allowed Rondo a chance to kick me in the chest and sent me to the floor (_**OUCH! She does pack a punch**_!) .

.

-_Oh, Mr. kitty came to play? _

_-What is the meaning of this!? _

.

She took a jump back to get distance and remained in a hunched defensive position observing me and the other two. I heard her growl somewhat and when the mortician took a step forward she actually hissed and took a step back.

.

-(_**Oh my catnip!**_) O**oO **

.

I looked at the room and saw her things on the bed, the I saw her (_**Oh my catnip!**_), her body position was very easy to interpret for me, I´ve rarely seen such in humans but my instincts told me exactly what I had wrong. I had intruded into the most private sanctum of a female´s territory, and she was ready to rip me to shreds for it. Her gaze was feral and her light snarl told me it wasn´t a good idea to remain there for long. Oddly it was somewhat alluring, the hat projected a mysterious shadow over her bright green eyes and she the warden´s jacket barely covering her toned legs, that low growl coming from her throat… and when she kicked me I saw that she was wearing quite the sexy underwear…. (_**Im suddenly feeling hot, I better get out before she attacks or any of us do**_)

.

-_I swear it was an accident! _– I raised my arms and put my palms in front of me.

-_Accidentally enter a girl´s room when she was dressing? A very nice accident Mr. kitty_ – The knight was still holding his sword and was ready to attack at any moment. I noticed that he had an eye on Rondo too….not to blame him, she looks hot.

_-What are you doing here cat?_ – The clockmaster was angry but he could not help the red tint in his face either.

_-I´ll explain but maybe we can wait outside for Rondo to change…_

.

Then we heard another growl, but this time it was her stomach. She was about to say something but closed her mouth and almost unperceptively looked at her collar choker thing laying on the bed.

.

-_We´ll be downstairs. When you´re ready come, breakfast will be ready_.- The mortician motioned to Ace and she focused on me. I walked out of the room escorted by the other two males.

.

Once we were outside her room and coming down the stairs we all left out a breath.

.

-_We should convince Joker to let her keep those clothes and maybe lent her his whip too _ **XD**

.

We were all thinking along the same lines. When were in the kitchen the mortician broke the silence.

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_-What are you doing here cat? _

_-Actually I came to get Alice some of her old dresses._ – The clockmaster raised his eyebrow – _I saw her and she seemed to miss them, so I decided to bring her some_ – before they could ask anything I answered beforehand. -_She hasn´t left the hatter´s mansion since the ballroom incident. _

_-Julius…. Everything left in your fridge is rotten –_The knight had open the fridge and he was right, everything was rotten (**Authors note: Im sure that if instant noodles soups existed in wonderland Julius would survive on them and coffee alone**).

_- I guess we´ll have to go eat breakfast outside once she comes down_.- His face once again reddened and mine did too.

- _How did she got the warden´s clothes anyways? OH NO! Don´t tell me she… - I thought of the worst_

_-Not that we know of, thankfully. But we should ask her._

_-And what if actually she did? - _The knight sure had a way to make things worse. – _Those are quite the_ strange markings and scars.

She had some small points and lines on her skin at the side of her thighs, barely visible and really thin. It surprised me that someone else managed to see them, the mortician clearly hadn´t. (**Author´s note: think of a very thin and faded circuit design**)

.

.-

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After a while she had come down all dressed up, wearing her own things along Joker´s, I also noticed the earing and the bow on her braid. She in a sour mood, I apologized and offered to pay her breakfast as compensation (_**thanks that it worked!)**_. I learned the name she had finally settled upon, we were eating and I took the chance to ask her stuff.

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

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Finally something to eat! ***¬* **, I needed real food, I can´t keep consuming soldier pills or my kidneys will suffer for it, and since I´m not paying I´ll eat to my stomach´s content.

.

-So.. How did you get those clothes? – I was really curious about it.

-I can't remember everything very well, after I was cornered and shot in that place I went drinking with Black. We got very drunk after a while and in the end I woke up in Nightmare´s office. **¬_¬0**

.

It´s true that I don´t remember all that happened very well, and I certainly wasn´t going to tell all that we were up to. Neither Black nor I would appreciate that. We had been VERY drunk, I don´t even know how much alcohol we consumed but it was enough to make us do very silly things which I can´t remember very well (**Author´s note:** "**silly" to her probably = "terrifying" for others** ) . We were out in the streets and Black proposed something I can´t remember, then I added a few ideas on my own that I only recall being related to science and experiments, then he had said something about those being a thing he hadn´t tortured anyone with and I said that it wasn´t torture, that it was research (_**for science!**_ ) . Then we somehow decided that he didn´t want people seeing me and hat put on me his jacket, hat and earring and told me to just cuss like him and to call him just Joker. Then off we went and I don´t know what happened next.

Boris, Ace and Julius deadpanned.

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-Wait! Cornered and shot?! – Julius and Boris were shocked, I pointed to the marks in my shoulder piece.

-What is that armor made of? I haven´t seen any material like it ever. – Ace hadn´t been impressed but asked curiously about my suit. I ignored the other two shocked roleholders and decided that such info was useless here in wonderland, even if he was the general of a territory at war I doubted they had the means to produce something like this, besides, the process was complex and that I would not specify, neither would I give more details about the other layers of my suit, so answered him.

-The outer armor layer has Boron carbide and tungsten nanodust arrayed in a crystal structure typical of icosahedron-based borides with incorporated carbon-heavy atoms at the end of it´s stoichiometric formula.

-….

.

Heavy silence followed my words (_**Oh, c´mon! it´s just simple chemistry**_!)

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-_Oh yeah, I almost forgot_! –Ace suddenly remembered something and took out a fancy sealed letter from his coat and handed it to Julius. – _Vivaldi sends the invitation for the next ball. There should be one for you too at the amusement park Mr. kitty._

_._

Both Julius and Boris groaned a little, then looked at me and sighted. They were forced to attend such event, it was a rule, that didn´t mean that they had to like it, Julius certainly didn´t.

.

_-Oh, I almost forgot too! The queen wants to see you Aria._

_-Me? Why?_

_-I don´t know, but maybe you should go before she decides she wants to behead you. I´m sure Mr. kitty here won´t mind taking you to the castle. –_Boris looked at me and then nodded.

_-(__**Great, just what I needed**__ ) Fine, I´ll go as soon as I finish breakfast._

.

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After I finished I said Julius and Ace goodbye (Ace said he was going to "spent" more time with Julius). Boris took me through a door and we appeared at the castle.

.

_-How did you do that?!_

_-I just did._

_-But how? Did you use a devise or something? … how did…_

_._

I was interrupted by a gunshot, I turned around and saw a guard falling, I was ready to run when I noticed that coming from a corridor the prime minister was coming.

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_-How dare you bring me more work when I need to go and give my dear Alice her personal invitation to the ball!?- _He wasn´t very happy.

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I looked around but Boris had already disappeared.

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* * *

**.**

**And she finds herself in the presence of (an angry) Peter White once again, but this time there isn´t anyone around to save her, does she needs to be saved or how is she gonna save herself?**

**.**

**Also this her opinion regarding sex got stated, she doesn´t care about it but she wouldn´t have a problem with it if she felt like it. There are things far more interesting things.**

**.**

**PLEASE REVIEW, THE MORE REVIEWS THE FASTER I UPDATE, NEXT CHAPTER IS ALREADY WRITTEN.**

* * *

**To Passer-by : Thank you, I´ve read many wonderful stories but also find the need for one with a character that not only questions stuff but actually tests and researches it. I promise you that she will try (and perhaps succeed) on finding out the truth and reason , for science! even if some surprises happen along the way. So please check out and tell me if you find anything bleak and any ideas or suggestion you may have :)**

**To ScarletRose09: Well, in this chapter you got to know a bit of what happened in that drunken night (what she remembers anyways), next chapter we´ll know the rest of what happened.**


	14. Chapter 14

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**CHAPTER 14**

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The prime minister was angry, organizing another ball with so little time had given him a lot more work, especially because the issue of the attack hadn´t been solved yet, there simply was too much to do, repair, reconstruction, replacing the faceless, compensations… How could he go and give Alice her invitation if he couldn´t finish the preparations? On top of that some soldier had dared to bring him more work that the knave hadn´t made and even more that the queen had requested with details for the ball. He off course shot the lowly guard and got near to shot the body more. Then he saw her, the other foreigner had returned to the castle and was looking around. It disgusted him the idea of another foreigner and she wasn´t of his particular liking, she was just so un-Alice. If it were for him he would shot her, but the queen had prohibited that and had even ordered him to give her an invitation to the ball and he would be done with it already had he known what name to address it, and where to find her, so it was partially her fault he had much work.

.

-_There you are! The queen orders that you are to be invited to the ball, so tell me what name are you going by now._

_-The name I´ll be using in Wonderland is "Aria Hadron Scherzi ". But save yourself the effort, I´m not interested in balls._

_-If I could I would, but the queen ordered an invitation to be made, it´s up to you if you assist or not. In fact I´ll get rid of that work, follow me so I can end the charade and give you the undeserved invitation before you disappear again. _

_-Tsk, fine._

.

She decided to take her chances and followed the prime minister to his office, which was big and elegant, it had some big bookcases and various portraits of the girl she had taken hostage at the last ball, she quickly read the tittles of the books and then observed the office, it was better organized than Nightmare´s (**_who is supposedly the ruler of Clover_**), she guessed that Vivaldi ruled, but it was Peter who administrated the country of Hearts and Ace ran the army _**(more or less… maybe less and maybe once in a while) (And**_ _**that leaves the king as a decorative figure**_).

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_-Wait there and don´t touch anything_. – He called a secretary and ordered that the official invitations were brought to him. – _I have enough work already to be bothered to clean anything you may touch._

_._

He looked at her and noticed what she was wearing (_**Such bad taste. But where had I seen something like it?... THE WARDEN´S CLOTHES! HOW DID SHE?!**_)

_._

_-Like I would touch anything, everything here is of no consequence to me. Besides, the only thing that may interest me are books and I already read a copy of most of the books you have here._

_-That´s a lie, you were at the library only a few time changes, it´s impossible that someone like you read more than a child´s story in that time. Much less complicated books like these._

_-Complicated? HA, these are as complicated as a videogame magazine or child´s stories. If you want less work then perhaps you should be the one to study real complex books and apply what you learn._

_-And what would you apply then? What could a brute like you know about the fine details of administration of a country?_

_-Probably more than an oversized rodent like you can even manage!_

_._

The prime minister really wanted to shot the girl in front of him, but he couldn´t or he would break some rules, so he tough he would content with humiliating her.

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-_Really? Then prove it!_

_- Fine! But you´ll pay for it afterwards. Give me those papers! – _She said and took them herself.

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While the prime minister finished with the rest of the invitations and other small details (and kept on murmuring how much he wanted to go see Alice and get rid of the dirty thing invading his office) she read the paper reports regarding the attack at the last ball and analyzed the information, she counted the factors, from the cost and time of repairing to the points in the castle where security should be tightened on the nest ball based on the last attack. She took out from her back a device that the prime minister had never seen (**Authors note: her tablet PC**) and converted that information into equations, and she put them into a matrix to be solved by linear regression and other operational investigation techniques. She found out a bunch of correlations, predicted times and their prices and even the amount of people needed to every task, which she organized into a Gantt graphic in a clearly structured plan and even added extra points for eventualities.

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_-Here, check this out and cry of joy or anger._ – She arrogantly tossed him the final notes of what she had done.

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Peter White was speechless and felt himself being the one humiliated, he checked every single detail in her work and found it right, the changes it required were minimal, like the taxes or extra costs she couldn´t have known about or the structure and orders for the castle contracts and plans. In so little time she had done a lot of what would have taken him hours on end and even more than two time chances to even get one or two details completely planed and finished.

.

-_How can you have done this? __**O_o**_

_-Guess what rodentia encephalus?*, "complex" books and concepts like "__**math**__" are actually useful in real life if you know how to apply what they teach._ – She looked at him with all the arrogance and disdain she could muster, which was a lot. – _So… this proves it?_

_-It proves that you are an arrogant piece of unsightly flesh that knows little about Wonderland and it´s business. You missed many factors like the taxes and the special service for maintenance in the castle or the costs of contactors and… _

_-Then you won´t need this_ – She took the paper from the prime ministers hand and made a move to rip it in pieces.

-_WAIT!- _The prime minister couldn´t let her break it, that paper would save him hours of work so he could go and visit Alice.

_-I though you didn´t want it, since you say it´s so useless... better to rip it right now and leave you to do your work correctly from the start_ – Her distorted voice was sickly childish and sweet. Her smile was very sadistic, and what she was wearing unsettled him.

_-I didn´t say it was completely useless, I might be able to adapt it and use it, so give it back and take your invitation. Then leave._

_._

Her smile widened. Some smiles show happiness and joy, but hers only showed teeth. She tossed him another paper with numbers on it.

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_-I told you that you would pay for this. That is what you´ll have to pay, cash please_. _Consider it a professional executive help service.  
_

_-What!? You little.._

_-I´m a white neck mercenary, I don´t work for free. Besides, it´s not much more than what I charged Nightmare to reduce his work._

_- You work for the caterpillar?_

_-I helped him reduce all his paperwork and then he hired me, but I accepted only on part time and just some days._

_._

The prime minister tough about it, it had been a good move from the caterpillar to hire this annoying mercenary to do the work that consumed more time and only see her on part time.

While she put her device back in place he went to a portrait of Alice that was hanging on a wall and moved it, behind it there was a dial safe box from which he took the money she had requested and put it in the table along her invitation to the ball so that she would take it without touching him.

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-_Take it_ – She took the money counted it before handing him the paper- _I also want to hire you part time to assist me._

-_ Oh? – _She raised her eyebrow – _I´ll put my own conditions, don´t expect any loyalty beyond finishing the work, I work only the hours and days I want …._

_-Yes, whatever, we´ll negotiate the price, I still need to personally take various invitations. Protocol requires that invitations to a roleholder event are to be delivered personally to the other roleholders and I still need to take them to the other territories – _He was eager to leave.

-_Ace already gave Julius his invitation, and if you want I can start assisting you right now, I need to visit Joker anyways, so I can give him his invitation… as soon as we negotiate my pay._

_._

The prime minister was surprised, not only because she had offered to help right away (even if it was obviously she did so for the money), but because she was willing to visit the most feared and hated villain of Wonderland. He got very suspicious of her, she was wearing his jacket and (_**Oh dear wonderland!) **_his accessories. It was a very good thing he hired her, that way he could keep an eye on her so that she didn´t got close to Alice.

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

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After my little meeting with the prime minister I left the castle (_**with my pockets a lot more full with money ^_^**_), I couldn´t see Vivaldi because she had been at some official business. I certainly had not expected that he would hire me, but it had been certainly a good thing because it would help me further my plans. I needed to go visit Joker and return him his things (_**and find out the rest of what the hell happened that night**_), I had wanted to clean his jacket even if it wasn´t dirty, so I looked out for a dry clean laundry place, I found one, which made me wonder about the technology in this world and how some of it was shared with my world, yet many wasn´t, I started to suspect that both worlds were a lot more intertwined than what anyone though. Not only that, at first I had think that perhaps their technology was older and more primitive than that of my own world, then I considered perhaps it was the other way around and theirs was the advanced one. But right now it seems that it isn´t the case, maybe some things were more advanced and others were more primitive, but how is it possible? Why? If I understood its roots….!

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_**-OF COURSE! –**_ I just had to take a different approach. - _**When in doubt go back to the basics! **_

_**.**_

I needed to find all the basics first to see the whole picture together rather than its separate components, I could do that later. Pinpointing all the elements of the system was essential; like designing a videogame (_**And this world seems a bit like an anime or a videogame**_) this world is defined by a strict set of rules (_**In my world those rules are physics, math, biology and other sciences, why would those be different here, and if they are how so?!**_), most of them clearly stated, like the game mechanics of a videogame, programming sets that are invisible to the player and the characters but are there running in the background!

Once I find the visible elements I can track the rest by reverse engineering formulas and correlations. _**(IM SUCH A GENIUS!)**_

If I manage to define this, like a game design document, I could probably understand a bunch of the correlated fenomena of this world! **X3**

**.**

**.-**

* * *

**.**

**WHITE´S POV**

**.**

I had been disconnected from my counterpart for some time changes now. When he came back completely wasted I disconnected myself to let him suffer alone the horrible hangover he was sure to have when he woke up.

Once he was in his 5 senses again (sober at least) I asked him the cause of his little drunken adventure. He smiled and told me to look on, which I wasn´t going to because I knew he still had a horrible headache, he then told me that it was because he had gone drinking with the new foreigner. That caught my attention and I was about to check his memory out when he disconnected from me. He argued that if I hadn´t wanted to know before then it didn´t matter if I wanted to know then.

It was really unusual that Black was being playful. I was the playful one! It bothered me. And I wanted to know what had transpired that night. I was a bit upset with myself, I even took off my communication mask as I didn´t even want to hear myself.

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_-Joker, the new foreigner is looking for you!_ – One of the circus children came.

_-Then I should go and greet her. Thank you. _

.

I watched her look for me, upon her head was my counterpart´s hat and his earring was dangling cutely from her ear. In her hands she was carrying a bag and over my counterpart´s jacket and tie (_**Oh, so that´s where my counterpart left his things… she even took them to the laundry?)**_. How cute.

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_-Hello miss Aria, are you perhaps looking for me? - I appeared behind her but she wasn´t surprised, she didn´t jump in the slightlest like Alice would had._

_-Hello White. Yep , I was looking for you, both of you, specially Black. I brought him back his stuff._

_-And how is it that you have it, if I may ask?_

_-Actually I would like to ask him about that too. I remember we went drinking and ended up really drunk and… well, details are a bit fuzzy. I woke up in Nightmare´s office with his stuff, didn´t he tell you? – I_ raised my eyebrow, apparently the other me had quite the night while I had been bored to dead in that meeting.

_-I´m afraid we´ve been a little disconnected right now. – _I was keeping something very funny from myself, I didn´t like that.

_-You can disconnect from each other?_

_-Yes. Mmhhh? Perhaps you want to speak with Black right now?_ – (_**Im not happy about being left out of this fun**_) I transported us to the prison where she would be trapped by her own guild and regrets, they would manifest into the illusions of the worst she had suffered in her past and would led her to enter a cell by her own will and become my captive.

I watched and waited, she looked around with curiosity, I waited a bit more and waited… _**(Why is nothing happening?!).**_

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Nothing was happening, my shock was mayor and Black had sensed it and was approaching. I moved fast and trapped her between the bars of a cell and myself, my arms at her sides to prevent her from escaping. Apparently it had not been necessary, she didn´t have any intention of running away.

I saw her straight in the eyes and she held my gaze, there wasn´t any trace of fear in her eyes, just curiosity (_**Are you dumb, ignorant or just plain mad?).**_

.

_-Yes?-_ She calmly asked and cracked her neck.

_-What are you? Where is your guild? Where is your past? Your fears? YOUR MEMORIES?_

.

She smiled in a mocking way. She hold the things with one hand and put her other arm over my shoulder and her hand behind my head, she got so close that her chest was against mine, she got so near to my ear that I could feel her breath tickling me as she said - _I´m just a foreigner. As for the other questions... I don't have. I can´t biochemically have, so do not bother. –_ She retired herself from the closeness and rested her back on the bars. She closed her eyes for a second and when she opened she smiled in a sincere and nice way, totally calm and relaxed, as if she knew something like this would happen (_**Or as if something like this had already happened…),**_ the whole situation didn´t seem to matter to her at all, she didn´t even seem unconfortable. _**  
**_

The glint of curiousness was back in her eyes when she asked me.

_._

_-And what about you? How can one person be two at the same time? How can you teleport from the circus to the prison and vice versa? I´m curious._

_**.**_

_**(She´s curious about me? )- **_I kept my eye locked on her, is she trying to set a trap or simple to escape? She scratched her chin obviously thinking about something.

.

_-Why don´t we make a deal? - _She asked sweetly with that unnatural voice and bit her lower lip_– I "can" let you see some of my files, or what you could consider "memories" or whatever my equivalent to those is… However… what would you give in return? Although I find you very interesting I don't know if you "can" show me your memories or are willing to and I gotta say that I really don´t care about them. You can however tell me in "detail" how can you manage to see other´s memories, or perhaps how you teleport or maybe explain the existence and creation of the afterimages… I am scientifically curious. I doubt that you would let me put a few electrodes on you two and run some tests, besides I don´t have the equipment for a digital tomography._

_._

_(__**Who does she think she is! So much nonsense! And why do I feel such cold sweat running through my spine? I know she is harmless, but why does her words feel like... danger? It can´t be! Electrodes? Why am I getting exited then? I need to know what happened with my counterpart!**__)_

_._

_-What the ****** ****** hell ?- (__**And my other me finally comes**__). _She got away from her position between my arms and happily greeted Black.

-_Hello Black! Sorry for taking too long to bring you back your stuff. Here it is. By the way… Do you remember what exactly happened? – _She put my counterpart´s clothes on his arms and took off his earring from her ear and put it in his while my counterpart just asked himself what the ***** is up with her._ (__**And they are ignoring me!)**_

-_You don´t remember?_

-_Not everything, I more or less remember when we got out of the bar with those extra bottles that we later used to make the Molotov cocktails, don´t know where we got the combustible for that, then the flaming fountain in the middle of the park, the carriage race … who won by the way? And then the fight in the alleyway with the thugs that tried to ambush us. From the the point where we left the bar it all becomes incredibly hazy and fuzzy. Next I knew I was battling Nightmare´s paperwork problem._

_._

_(__**WHAT. THE. HELL ?) –**_ I moved to stand behind her and across my counterpart, who was grinning madly remembering all that mayhem, with a final smirk we connected again and I saw what he remembered from that night.

.

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

.

I saw how they crashed in that crumbling place and what that pull on my waist had been, I saw them going drinking and consuming insane amounts of alcohol and taking some bottles on the go after the bar became deserted (_**I normally have that effect**_), in the street they caught a passerby and robbed him of his shirt in an alley, then she turned around to rip the shirt in strips while my counterpart killed the faceless and threw the body over a wall, she didn´t noticed.

.

-_Thank you for your contribution to science! Oh, he already left. – _Then she seemed to notice something_ – Dang! I can´t let anyone see me or they will be on my trail soon. –_ She said while looking herself up.

-_Then you can play to be someone else! I know–_ my counterpart had the "brilliant idea" that Joker was two people – he put his hat on her head and with a bit of effort managed to put his earring on her ear without giving her another piercing hole. Then he looked at her and gave her his jacket. –_ Just cuss like me and I´ll act like me. (__**I didn´t know Black could smile so politely while drunk**__)._

.

They went on their merry way singing completely out of tune (she somehow managed to change her voice to sound more male like) and after the contents of those bottles were consumed or "accidentally" spilled (on a scared faceless or two), she got her hands on a piece of hose and got near a motored vehicle, opened up the gas deposit and put the hose in it, she got on a squatting position to put the bottles on the floor and then she sucked HARD on the other part of the hose, as if she was trying to use the hose to drink the fuel, she spit at the side when the gasoline started coming through the hose and they filled the bottles.

.

-_Atmospheric pressure can suck on applied science!_ – The really drunk girl said.

_-You can suck on my d**** later bitch_! – My counterpart responded. (_**Oh yes, she can suck on us as hard as she can**_).

-_Well you can suck on my cli***** later ass…. IN FACT NO! I´M, NOT INTERESTED!_ - (_**A shame, because**_ _**I wouldn´t mind that either. I´m sure that would crush the other roleholder´s hopes if it happened).**_

_**.**_

She stumbled up and actually needed my counterpart´s help to stand up again, then she went to the front part of the vehicle and opened it to reach the motor. From there she got the sticky oil and added it to the bottles which she put the cloth strips. They took the bottles and went to a nearby park that had a nice big stone fountain with little water but working.

She took one bottle and lit fire to the cloth.

With the battle cry "_**For Science**_**!"** she threw the bottle to the fountain and it exploded making the faming contents fall to the water. Where they remained blazing and even seemed to lit more.

.

-_I always wanted to know if Molotov cocktails could be used on watery targets!_

_-Give me the **** lighter! __**:D - My counterpart was happy to participate  
**_

_-It would be funnier with napalm! __**^w^ - (I don´t know what napalm is but it sure sounds fun)**_

.

Black did the same with more bottles and soon the fountain was filled with fire, since the fountain was pumping the water it was also pumping the liquid mix. I guessed the head and pressure in the tubes is what made it explode while the two drunken dummies where discussing about my counterparts tie. He then took it off and got a hold of her braid, she protested with a "_**NYA!" **_and he used the tie made a bow at the end of her braid.

They leaved the area and got near the edge of the park where carriages and horses were stored for the night. They got a hold of two and started a " chariot race" around the park, in some curve the carriage my counterpart was driving fell on his side and Black ended up rolling on the floor for a little distance, it probably was a painful hit but he didn´t noticed because of his inebriated state. He rose up and went to the corner of the park marked as the "victory line". Her carriage was there but she wasn´t, he heard noise (screams and insults) coming from the dark street following the corner of the park and went to check out. There he saw that someone had destroy the nearby street lamps and she was surrounded by a gang of drunken thugs, imbeciles even more drunk than my counterpart and the foreigner because they were ready to "get revenge on Joker" and didn´t notice that SHE obviously wasn´t me, much less the grave mistake they had made.

One of them tried to stab her while another kicked her into a wall, she hit it the bricks hard with her back but managed to counterattack another one (_**For being so drunk she was holding quite well**_) soon many others arrived, maybe all the nearby gangs (_**And clover is supposed to be neutral! , they probably took the chance to gather while the lizard was away**_).

Black came into the picture and shot most of them while she fend against the others with her blades, back to back they (we) were quite the picture, when all their foes were fallen Black made sure they were all dead.

.

_-Can´t have any witnesses of you being involved slut_ – Black shot the last one on the head (_**How considerate of myself**_).

.

She was resting her back against a wall, and was almost out of it, she took a breath and started to move away from the place completely exhausted.

.

-_Where you going b***?_

-_Somewhere safe to sleep for a while…. – _she was practically moving automatically.

.

Somehow my counterpart managed to get her to clover tower, he was way too drunk and tired to drag her all the way here.

.

**END FLASHBACK**

**.**

* * *

**-**_My, my, you really do look like a villain._

_._

I turned to see the knight coming with his all too known smile and getting his sword ready. I was surrounding the foreigner and had quite the smirk on our lips. We propbably do look like villians, but that´s what we are. I was about to retort but she did so first.

.

-_Hey, Don´t call me a villian if I haven´t done anything to them yet! And this morning was all in legitimate self defense.  
_

.

_We all looked at her __**(O_o?)**_

_**.**_

* * *

_**.In case you were wondering Aria and Black were speaking like a drunken Scott pirate trying to imitate a gaelic dialec from his irish cousin on st. patrick´s day. Luckly for everyone it was White`s POV and he translated it for us :)**_

_** I guess Black can troll others too XD and now you know what happened on that little drunken adventure. Is she starting to look a bit dangerous to wonderland? And why do you think she reacted to being called a villian? **_

_**If you have some ideas please share them with me.**_

_**.**_

_**I´ll wait till I have some reviews and ideas until I update. So please review**_

_*rodentia encephalus – she means "rodent brain"_


	15. Chapter 15

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* * *

**Chapter 15**

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**ACE´S POV.**

.

I didn´t think I´d see Aria so soon, after I leaved Julius I came to the prison to work part time as executioner, and it was quite the surprise when I entered and saw Joker looming over her quite threatening, he was probably about to use the prison´s trick of showing her the worst of her past to mentally torture her like he did with Alice. I didn´t want him to crush her mind before I could play with her more or make her play with me. But I couldn´t attack him right now because he was too close to her, so I needed to grab his attention to give her a chance to escape.

.

**-**_My, my, you really do look like a villain right now. _

_._

Joker turned around but it was she who answered.

_._

-_Hey, Don´t call me a villian if I haven´t done anything to them yet! And this morning was all in legitimate self defense_

_._

We all looked at her **(O_o?)** - (_**She a villain? Done anything to them… yet?)**_

I noticed that Aria had given back his stuff to the warden. (_**I really wanna see their reaction**_); I took my hand away from my sword´s handle and just pointed to the clothes.

.

_-Oi Joker, you really should let her keep your clothes, she looks hot with them and nothing more. _ **:D**

_-WhAt!? _

_-I DID have my underwear bellow, so you know. – _She "helpfully" pointed out- _But thank you for the compliment... HEY you two barged in me practically naked to help Boris when came to get me! That´s not fair, I want compensation._

_-OK! __**:3**__ –_ I started taking off my coat.

–_No good Ace, you already stripped when we met and I already have your clock´s data, I want to run some tests regarding your strength and maybe analyze your sword. I want to know how many psi I sustained by the blow you gave me this morning._

_-You mean after the trio night with Julius?- _ This was fun and she wasn´t even realizing it.

-_Yes. By the way, how is he? He seemed to have been in pain. Just to clarify it, that was YOUR fault because you arranged things so that he would be in the middle._

_-Don´t worry, after a bag of ice his d*** was fine. And I´ll help you strip him next time so that you get a go at his clock too. And what about Mr. kitty, you went a little rough on him?_

_-I would have gone way rougher with him had you two not intervened. He really had to scream so hard…_

_-Oh? It was him who screamed? You made him scream very girlishly._

_-His fault for assaulting me._

_-You gave him a good look of your undies. A lace dental floss thong is quite showy __**X)**_

_-They are practical, easier to move freely and more direct skin contact_

_- Maybe next time Joker can lend you his whip too. __**:D**_

.

The jester was unreadable but the warden had a quite the angry and red face.

.

_-YOU SL***- The warden pulled her braid and screamed at her. _

_-WHAT THE ******* IS WRONG WITH YOU JERKASS!?- She screamed at him while taking a hold of the tie he was wearing and tried to strangle him with it. (__**HA,HA,HA IT´S JUST TOO FUN!). XD**_

_-Could you tell us what happened? –_The jester separated the two and was looking calm, but I knew he wasn´t.

.

She rolled her eyes before answering.

.

_-It´s not your business, but if you want to know I collapsed while studying the door that connects the clover and clock towers and I woke up to Julius screaming and Ace ´s sword stuck in my arm blade, then Julius let me use Alice´s old room and I went to take a bath, after that I was cleaning my suit and obviously had no other clothes to wear except for yours, … luckily I do carry an my extra underwear…. , however Boris appeared from nowhere and I responded the treat and he screamed for help, then Ace and Julius came to help him._

_-Julius and I weren´t there to help the kitten…_

_-That makes it worse. Where you there to attack me then? Why? I wouldn´t have told anyone about you and Julius. Everyone has they likes and philias. And those are private matters which I don´t really care about which comes close enough to respect others I guess._

_._

_**( She hadn´t even think that we were there to help her, why is that? )**_

.

_-And why are you here? I thought you´d be at the castle´s library._

-_OH yes! Almost forgot….-_ She looked into the bag she was carrying, took out an envelope and handed it to Joker- _Since I was coming here anyways to give back Black his stuff I also brought your invitation to the ballroom event. _

_-Aren´t those supposed to be handled personally by a representative of heart´s?- _ Did Sir Peter really broke rules and protocols by sending her?

_-Yes, but since that insufferable bunny hired me as professional assistant/consultant/help on part time I guess it counts._

_._

We all looked at her; if Peter hired her she must be extremely good or Mr. Bunny was extremely desperate.

.

-_Didn´t you said that you are also helping Nightmare? – She said that at some point._

_-Yes, I´m a white neck mercenary, I´m working for them on part time. I do need the money, I can´t keep on wasting my soldier pills and whatever supplies I have left…I do need to eat real food every once in a while and my tastes can be quite expensive._

_._

I think a little realization hit us, she hadn´t been staying in any territory save a few counted exceptions, well, at least not with any roleholder, and she really wolfed down a lot during breakfast today. When was the last time she ate before that? How amusing, had she been a hobo?... Is she even aware of the game?

.

-_So you´ve been hired by other territories…? I can´t simply be left behind… I wanna hire you too, right Black? - _The jester was planning something, I bet It´ll be fun.

_-Huh? Yeah, so work here for me b***._

_-Doing what? –_ She raised her eyebrow

-_Oh, I Do run two territories, it's quite tiring, and there is always so much to do…. _

_-That´s vague… but I guess I can work with you part time by project every once in a while until I go back to my world. Just keep in mind that I don´t include loyalties in the package, just the finished work._

_-That´s fine b***. _

_._

_**(She accepted? That´s not good.)**_

_._

_-And before I forget I also brought you this White– _She took out a small cake and a bottle of wine and gave it to the jester– _I went drinking with Black alone, so I though it wasn´t fair that you were left out. I didn´t knew what kind of liquor you like so instead I brought you this._

_-That´s… very considerate. .. –_For a second both Jokers had a surprised expression.

_-Better let´s go have another round b***. _

_-Sure, but it´ll have to be another time. Maybe in 4 nights?_

_-Can I join? – I raised my hand and asked. __**: )**_

_-Why not, the more the merrier – _She said and both Jokers were looking at me dirty. –_ Anyways I must get going I have to go and advance some things in clover tower and the castle before the ball and find a place a hide during it._

_-Aren´t you going to the ball? The queen won´t be pleased if you don´t go – (__**She isn´t going, why? Don´t all girls like those kind of events?**_)

-_Nha, I´m not a very social person if you haven´t notice, besides, the ball is in a pair of weeks and I´ll get the chance to rest properly while all of you are there, it seems that the farther I´m from you role holders the safer I am._

_._

_-(__**That was a low blow, we are the only ones who can keep her safe, don't we? Or maybe it´s true, but "Ouch" How is she going to play the game is she isn´t around us?)**_

_._

_-Should I take you out my lady? – _The jester asked.

-Yes please, but let´s take the stairs this time, I want to know where they are.

.

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

.

.

After I left the circus I headed to Clover, I needed to check the advances and info Biggs and Wedge had by now; I also need to sleep and recover my stuff from that building where the little drunken adventure began.

I put on my stuff and I went to the main bar as Berceuse. I was greeted happily by everyone, I headed to the office and as soon as I crossed the door Biggs and Wedge were practically over me in a complete state of bliss and relief, both of them had tackled me in a crushing hug surprising me and forcing me to forcefully pry them off.

_-Boss, were so happy you're fine!_ - Biggs could hardly contain his excitement.  
_-Boss, the rumors were so bad! And then it was confirmed that someone saw you wearing a wardens uniform -_ Wedge was getting used to me and my insistence in knowing the facts. He had lately been going straight to the point, I like that.  
-_Snap out of it you two! Im fine ghezzz! and that uniform wasn't mine, it was Joker's_ -They actually screamed and hugged each other - _And before you scream more... know that Nightmare, Peter White and Joker hired me to help them at executive and management level or for whatever I may be able or willing to help them with. So we'll have a bunch of contracts and maybe a monopoly or two for distributions in their territories __**) **_

_-(__**Yep, I was gonna take the chance to give myself the contracts and abuse power just because I can**__)_

Their fear was very annoying and I decided to ignore them. I headed to the desk and started checking various issues, after a while I turned to them to ask them about the info regarding the role holders and anything else I had asked them to dig. They were relieved to more or less be helpful.

They had finished explaining me about the role holders duties and their known pasts when we were interrupted by Alhambra and Balzac, two of the guys that had been with me in the truck back then, apparently they had rearranged rank by who had met me first. (I don't know why, but they are very proud of having me as "not " their boss) They were "escorting " two pretty shaken girls.

_-Boss, one of our safe houses near the amusement park was attacked and this girls abandoned their post.-_ Alhambra said and pointed his shotgun at the girls. I already gave up on trying to stop them from calling me boss.  
_-Attacked! What happened?-_ I was really not in the mood to deal with it.  
_-Speak_- Balzac simply said to the girls. He was a man of few words and very good at gathering information.

The older girl saw me with a bit of fear, she seemed to be in her late twenties.  
-_Boss Berceuse... we were in the back of the store counting some stuff to smuggle to the hatter's territory when we heard an explosion in the front, before we could go and see, more people attacked, they were wearing small hats but...  
-They weren't from the hatters_- the younger girl interrupted, she couldn't be more than sixteen - _I was at the main base when you became boss, and these were that same men boss! I´M SURE OF IT! They were looking for a mirror, I heard one looking for a "diamonds" mirror, and we ran here to tell you. Please don't kill us!  
_-What do we do with them boss? - Alhambra was a trigger happy trigger gun man, he was always eager to pull the trigger at someone.  
.

Situation dawned on me, not only this two girl´s lives depended on whatever I say next, but probably quite a lot more. I had to make a choice, I know that had I not been here the girls would be dead already, killed by the attackers of by their fellows. It's not that I care about them, this is still not my world, but… I don't like needless violence and bloodshed and if they die I'll have less resources (_**I'll keep telling myself that ...**_).

I really don´t want any responsibilities, I hate having to take care of others, I already have enough trying to take care of myself...

I crossed my fingers and supported my chin on them to think for a few moments (_**One way or another I'm already involved ... I guess I can't keep going telling them that I'm not their boss when I act as it while I control and direct everything as I do... but I´ll disappear when I go back to my world**_)_**, **_I guess the best I can do is to raise things so that they can work without me. I have already some experience setting things the best way so that they continue on their own. (_**Well, in any case it´ll be fun while it lasts**_)

_- Is what they say true Balzac?  
-Yes boss. I Confirmed it.  
-Casualties?  
-6 ours and 7 theirs._  
_-Then I'll tell you what we'll do._ – The silence became so thick that I could almost grab it- _Alhambra... take this girls downstairs and give them a tea or something to calm them down. They will rest and recover. - _Confusion showed on all their faces _(__**or lack of them**__).- Right now I want Biggs and Balzac to ensemble a strike and assault team that I'll personally lead to inspect the place at the amusement park. And let it be known that I don't like my personnel dying uselessly. This girls did the right thing; it would have upset me if they had died, so they get to choice their next job if they want to.  
_.  
They were really surprised.

_-What are you waiting for!- _I really am NOT in the mood to deal with this._  
-You're really too good boss !_- The girls said with teary eyes.  
.

After they left the room I went to the wine cabinet and took out a whisky, I need a drink.

.

-How is the animal shelter thing coming along Wedge?

-_mmhhh… It´s fine boss, it´ll be done fast and it´ll serve to wash money too. –_Wedge was still surprised but had recovered already.

_-Good… I will also need a list of schools here in wonderland and what they teach, maybe museums, concert halls and theaters too._

_-Boss?_

_-I´m already involving myself, but I guess it´s a fair exchange. Wonderland is giving me a sort of vacation for all the conflict, despair and famine back there, and I might learn or get very useful stuff, so It´s fair that I correspond giving wonderland something nice in return (__**with limitations of course, too much tech and the balance of the territories might change, or worse… my ways are too brutal and horrible and I don´t want to corrupt this world with the horrors of mine**__.)_

.

-You are here boss. That is enough. – He said quietly but I still managed to hear him.

.

We headed up to the place at the amusement park. I explained the tactics (like the ones SWAT or M16 or similar strike teams use in my world) and my team understood them pretty well, I decided that it would be better to train them more later. However they were really edgy and somewhat overprotective and it had bothered me. We entered the building and inspect it as soon as we secured the perimeter, the damage was little and clocks were gone.

We found a note, a small note saying they wanted to negotiate at the ballroom event day but nothing more, considering things I decided to left another note saying we´ll sent someone to the ball, it would be safer to be in the castle and not negotiating were a trap could be set easier. At least I would be helping the prime minister to plan what was left of the ball and I could set my men there easily.

I was musing this strategy when my men saw me ponder and maybe got confused of the reason.

.

-Don´t worry Boss. We´ll protect you – Biggs said holding his sword high as if he was some kind of paladin (I could almost feel a vein popping in my head from the annoying show).

- Biggs…. Attack me, it´s an order – I need to prove him how wrong he is.

-But…

-I said is an order! And don´t hesitate!

.

He did so and I parried him with my arm blade, he wasn´t bad, but it was not impressive at all, but somehow he seemed stronger than when I met him. I attacked as everyone saw us as if it was some sort of training, but pretty soon I used a move to sidestep and kick him in the back sending him to the ground.

.

_-If you can't defeat me then there is no way that you can defeat that or those who can defeat me_- I showed them the dent Ace had made in my side blade, his sole strength had been brutal _- this was done by the knave of hearts, if he or any role holder attacks me I doubt I'll survive, so unless you can fight them don't bother saying you will protect me. Because you can´t and only will either get in my way or get yourself killed, probably both. Don´t die uselessly. __**¬_¬**_

_._

_S_ome sort of determination settled with them, I could sense it in their silence and see it in their postures.

.

_-We´ll… I´LL train harder boss_ – Biggs seemed to be the most determined one of all. – _We´re very happy that a foreigner decided to be with us boss, so we´ll do our best._

_-And what does being a foreigner has to do with anything? Didn´t that Alice girls ever interacted with anyone or what?_

_-Boss… foreigner hardly ever pay us faceless any attention. – _Balzac added. – _We are just unimportant things in this world and role holders are the ones playing the game, but… we love you too. _

_-And what does that mean? –_ I was getting confused, didn´t I was told something about a game.

_-Boss… the game of hearts…. Didn´t the role holders told you? - _ Lily, a girl good with short swords and small fast guns said.

-_ You can tell me about the game later, for now let's go. This place is clean – _I leaved the note in the floor for the "not hatters" to find and we headed back.

.

.

* * *

The small travel back to another of the businesses was quiet, I needed to assess things and I could tell they were anxious.

_**(I know little about wonderland, but wonderland knows nothing about me. What do people here really know about my world? And what are foreigners to them? Are we simply outsiders from another world or do we mean something more? And what´s the "game of hearts" about?**__ ) _I do understand that foreigners don´t interact with faceless much, it´s the interactions with the role holders what causes the vial to fill and eventually allows us to go back to our own world… (**Wait!? Is that really _true? Do ONLY role holders trigger the vial filling? Or perhaps it fills by interacting with other inhabitants of this world too?_)**

I´ve been keeping a close watch on the weight of the vial and how much it fills with each encounter, but I´ll have to try something else. After the next event I´ll stop meeting the role holders for a while to interact only with faceless, that way I´ll know for sure and I´ll get the chance to settle a lot of stuff as Berceuse. But there are some things I need to know first, so far I´ve noticed that role holders do withhold a bunch of information and some of what they say are different from what the faceless say… I can´t trust either, but at least hearing both sides of the story I get good clues to whatever is really going on.

.

-_Tell me about the "game of hearts" guys_ – I decided to break the silence. – _I want to hear it from you, I don´t trust what the role holders tell me._

.

I guess that surprised them even more.

.

_-When a foreigner comes to wonderland they drink the "hearts potion" and begin the game of hearts, during which everyone falls in love with the foreigner and role holders compete to capture the heart of the foreigner…_ – Nora, the other girl in the team said dreamily, she then continue but to me it sounded like she was telling some kind of fairy tail. The others seconded her and explained a bit more but all was very vague and I couldn´t understand it.

-_But why?_ _And How? If they wanted to capture my heart they could have ripped it from my chest a while ago, there is no chance that I can defeat any of them if they fight me directly._

_._

They were completely thrown off, they had never question it or even though about it, they hadn´t even expect wonderland receiving a visit from a foreigner in their lifetimes (_**they didn´t even expect their lifetimes to last for long),**_ much less two foreigners and hadn´t even dream of a foreigner interacting with them. If they couldn´t even fathom this, much less could they analyze it.

But I wasn´t prepared either, they spoke of people falling in love with the foreigner, I couldn´t understand that. Love and feelings are merely a bunch of biochemical processes in the body that evolution deemed useful for the survival of the species and even for the survival of human societies, which in turn helped the survival of the species. And the feelings and sensations involved… that was beyond me, I understood the reactions processes and the chemicals involved, but I couldn´t produce or assimilate them, my brain didn´t lit in the 3 zones that loved or hate lighted, that´s partly why I am able to use this suit to it´s full capacity and why I´m so effective in many things.

Sure, I do have an equivalent and "that" food acts as drug that causes symptom similars enough to "love". I do have emotions but I can´t create attachments long or strong enough to develop feelings, well… not in the way people do, with constant reinforcement (_**and that is not necessarily good… like the suffering and pain, and destruction… I had managed to grab onto some stuff, I do "love" science, and I do "love" humanity, but that does mean I care about humans or the stupid **** they recurrently do and cause. ) **_Why would anyone want to have feeling anyways? I can´t understand it, and I know I probably would not survive it. I´ve seen so much despair, so much destruction and horrors that if I cared i would kill myself.

How could everyone fall in love with me? Impossible! Why would anyone would want to fell in love with a foreigner anyways?,or is it that they have no choice and would do so anyways? Do people here react to a certain pheromone foreigners produce naturally like in the sweat!? (**_that was gross.._**)

Bha, I can´t believe that, pure nonsense! Which means that I must find the truth behind that.

I´m starting to think some hypotheses …. But I need to resolve some things first, like: What value do foreigners have to this world? How and when can a foreigner come here? Are there requirements for that? Can this people visit my world?... (_**There is so much to know about wonderland, but unfortunately I won´t have the time to research and resolve everything before I can go back, maybe I shall content with understanding and reproducing what will be of use to me in my world… I´m starting to feel tired too... the burden is also getting heavier...**_ )

Once I fill the vial I´ll go back and… (…_**WAIT! …. Do I really need to wait till the vial is completely full? **_)

.

.

* * *

.

**Yes, she is a psycho. Does her mental state begins to be clarified or is she just to messed up ? she can´t even believe someone would fall in love with someone as terrible as herself. what do you think?**

**Oh, and if anyone is interested there is a (secret: common) substance that she is "allergic" to and that get the latin lover out her. Can anyone guess what it is?**

**REVIEW PLEASE**


	16. Chapter 16

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**NIGHTMARE 'S POV**  
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She came back and Grey is not here, I know she is speaking with the faceless to understand the workings and do what I hired her to do, it´s been a time turn already since she arrived and she has been down there working. Grey already met her, he returned somewhat thoughtful, she is quite the puzzle, and VERY smart and knowledgeable, completely contradicting her somewhat crude appearance. I found amazing all those machines she carries with her, but I also wonder why she carries them. We don´t know anything about her, she hadn´t let us know much and with the little time she spends on any given territory we won´t have the chance to get to. It doesn´t seem that she has chosen a territory to reside yet, so maybe I can still convince her to stay here.

I looked at the pile of work Grey leaved for me to finish and cried, even with her improvements there is still too much and I don´t feel like doing it… I am bored and this is my chance to slack…. rest a bit and get to know her better. Grey had been very impressed with her. She´s so different from Alice… and I still can´t contact her in her dreams, that leaves me in a disadvantage, but I'm her boss and when she comes to work…

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(_**That's it! I´m her boss, so I can tell her to take a break and I can take one too!)**_

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I hurried downstairs and took her by the arm like I did when I met her and we ended up in Julius office, she was surprised but let me drag her around, until we were out of the tower and in a street, It was going fine until I started coughing blood.

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-_You don´t seem fine…_

_-Don´t worry, it´s actually normal._

_-Want me to take you to a doctor or something?_

_-NO! Those are scary! _

_- Ok… __**O_o**__ ? But aren´t you sick? If you don´t go it might get worse._

_-Nha I´ll be fine._

_-If you say so…. mmhhh... Where are we going?– _She didn´t question my answer or insisted on going to a hospital or anything_, _I didn´t know if feel glad for it or be sad_ because she didn´t seem to care. _

_-I just needed to take a break, so why don´t we get some ice-cream._

_- OK, but since you took me out you´re paying __**^_^ - **_I guess she likes ice-cream, she got happy immediately. (**Author´s note: No Nightmare, she probably got happy about free ice cream**)

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I decided that we didn´t need Grey to find us, and I know he will try to because I haven´t done any work even when it became much less thanks to her, she also still has much to do to lessen my work. So after we got the ice cream we went to a part of the nearby park that was at the other side of the small lake in it that I like. We sat in a bench behind some bushes to rest and enjoy the icy sweet stuff.

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We chat happily for a while and I wanted to know more.

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-_And how are you fairing in Wonderland Aria?_

-_I´m still alive, aren´t I?_ So _good enough I guess, but pretty tired, I hadn´t eat or sleep much in the last… day? Weeks?... A little break is always nice and necessary. And you? Grey seems to make you work a lot._

_-Yes he does! I´m glad someone understands it_! _But for how you work I thought you´d be a workaholic too._

_-Nha, I don´t live to work, I work to live, or at least to pay for whatever I want to pay for. And right now I have a few expenses and costly tastes. That´s why I´m working for some of you while I stay in wonderland, who knows, maybe I´ll learn interesting and useful stuff._

_-For some of us? _

_-Yep, today I´m here, tomorrow I´ll be working with Peter White, the next day I´ll be with Joker, then I might come here again or rest._

_-WHAT!? YOU´RE WORKING FOR THE WHITE RABBIT AND JOKER!? – (__**Doesn´t she knows what danger she´s getting herself into?**__) – _I tried to look in her mind but the same thing as last time happened_._

_-Yes, and I told you to stop trying to read my mind, next time there won´t be a warning, I´ll proceed with countermeasures. And believe me, you won´t like it. – _Her scary gaze made me gulp.

-_Why would you work for them, they are dangerous_. Maybe if I reason with her.

-_Money is a good motivation for a mercenary. And of course they are dangerous, everyone here is. But since no one bothered to explain anything to me I can´t really believe anything you´d say now expecting it to be true, and then when you actually say something you don´t offer any explanation. You say they are dangerous but don´t tell me why, you say that there is a game but don´t tell me what it consist off… why would I trust anything you say anyways? I gotta take my own chances and find out things for myself. So far it has work well. And working for you pays for replenishing my supplies, food and sometimes a hotel room. __**–_–**_

_._

She continued licking her ice cream. (_**Just what has she been trough in Wonderland?)**_

_**.**_

_**- **__Although I gotta say that in your case I also do it to save trees from being murdered and to save people from useless work… It amazes me how Clover has not collapsed by such terrible administration._

-_ Hey! I do work hard y´know?_

_-Haven´t seen it. Grey works hard, but he pays way too much attention to small details that become irrelevant for the bigger picture. _

– _(__**That´s natural, he´s an ex-assassin if he didn´t pay attention to small details he´d be dead by now**__) You´re right about that. Have you met everyone already?_

_-Not yet, I still haven´t met any role holder from the hatter´s territory and besides Clover and Hearts I don´t know about the other countries._

_-So you haven´t met Alice? Why? – _It does confuses me why wouldn´t she visit Alice.

_-huhff, Alice this, Alice that…. Seriously *__**_***__ . I´ll met her eventually, so why bother rushing to meet her? I do need to ask her some questions, but other than that I don´t care about her, she seems pretty irrelevant to me, but by the way practically everyone talks about her... Why don´t you tell me about her? I don´t know absolutely anything about her except that she is another foreigner and that the Prime minister is quite obsessed with her._

_-Alice is a sweet, nice and caring and pretty young girl who values others life. - _I said it without hesitation, maybe too fast even for my liking. Aria wasn´t impressed, and for her expression my words had been dull to her ears and she even seemed a bit annoyed.

_-aha… It doesn´t matter if I ask you or not anyways…. __**¬_¬***_

_._

I really want to know what´s in her mind, it´s been bugging me a lot the fact that she is the only being whose mind I haven´t been able to read, Grey had learned to shield me with really nasty thoughts, but she doesn´t even bother with that, there´s nothing there for me to read, or at least that appears to me.

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-_Aria… why can´t I read your mind?_

–Because a girl needs her privacy. Trying to read other´s minds without their consent is at the very least impolite if not straight terrible **_***

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(_**Such a scary face…) **__I guess she won´t tell me._

_._

_-Of course we can always make a deal… what would you give in exchange for that information… I can easily tell you why and I can even show you… I´m not interested in money for that particular matter, as I told Joker…_

_._

My eyes widened, (J_**oker!? Joker DID try to go into her mind! He did try to abuse her as he did with Alice!)**_ This is beyond my comprehension, why is she working for Joker then? What kind of deal had she offered or what Joker gave her!? What is she trying to do?

I was going to inquire when we heard a rustle of nearby leaves being moved.

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_-Lets hide here Dee!_

_-Ok Dum, the checky rabbit won`t find us slacking here!_

_._

From the bushes the bloody twins came and we were face to face, they had their axes out and I was ready to mind whip them.

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-Huh? Kids? Role holders too? Who are you?

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They turned to look at her and blinked, she blinked, I blinked, we all looked at the other people present and they grinned and dropped their weapons ignoring me and getting close to us.

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_-OH! THIS IS THE NEW BIG SISTER!_

_-WE CAN FINALLY MEET THE NEW ONE-CHAN!_

_._

_The bloody twins were ecstatic about bumping into us. Aria wasn´t so much, she turned to look at me._

_._

_**( . Kids.) – **_I heard her! I just read her mind! … no… she did that on purpose!? She just let me hear that!? HOW!?

_._

_-Im Dee Tweedle_

_-Im Dum Tweedle._

_-They are the gatekeepers for the hatter –I sort of introduced them_

_-Get lost kids. This slacking spot is already taken. -T_heir happiness was cut short and I was glad for it, they had interrupted my time with her. And know I really want to know how she did that with her mind.

_-But we are slacking too! –one twin said_

_-We can slack together one-chan! - And the other finished saying_

_-I said get lost, I dislike children – (__**She´s so cold…)**_ She wasn´t interested, she closed her eyes (which was almost gone) and finished her ice-cream.

_._

_The Tweedle´s grinned and changed to their adult forms._

_._

_-But we are not kids anymore sis – They said in unison while grinning happily._

_._

**END POV**

_._

* * *

_. _

_Aria opened one eye and saw them; she was so surprised that she got up fast hitting Nightmare who had been sitting next to her with her elbow really hard. The blow made Nightmare throw his head back and hit the metal bench ending up unconscious._

_._

_-COMO RAYOS ****** ******** ****** how did you ******** ******* that!? ESO NO ES ****** ****** IT SHOULDN´T BE ******** POSIBLE! _

_._

They knew those were profanities, but didn´t knew which language she had used.

_._

_-I found you brat´s! I´ll take you back to work! – _The (angry) march hare had arrived.

_-No way you useless rabbit! We just met the new sister! – _The twins had readied their axes and the march hare was already pointing his guns at them.

_-If you´re going to fight then get lost… In fact…. You´re interrupting the Slacker´s club reunion! – _She just wanted to study the guys that could change their age.

_-Yeah, you heard big sis! Get lost Bunny!_

_- And who do you think you are Miss to feel so cocky…!? – _Elliot pointed his gun at her and finally took upon the scene. On the bench was lying the caterpillar (unconscious), then the bloody twins were pointing their axes at him ready to fight and between all them was a girl with olive green eyes and very strange clothes. (_**THE NEW FOREIGNER!)**_

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She was very different from Alice, taller and older too, her clothes were bulky and heavy as if she was hiding something bellow. He was still pointing his gun at her face but she wasn´t even looking at the gun, he noticed what she was gazing at and got a bit scared. He remembered how painful it had been when Alice pulled his ears, then he remembered the dormouse saying the new foreigner had pulled his. She took a step forward and positioned herself between the twins and him and he took a step back because her eyes were still looking at his ears.

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Suddenly he found himself using his gun to Block a throwing knife and the twins did the same with their axes.

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* * *

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Grey had arrived while looking for Nightmare, He had been looking through the park Nightmare likes when he had heard Aria´s screaming something but didn´t understood what, he had followed the sound and saw Nightmare K.O´d on a bench and the mafia crew surrounding Aria with their weapons drawn and ready to attack her, he didn´t lose time and attacked them before they could harm Nightmare or Aria.

Elliot and the twins turned to face Grey while the girl jumped behind the bench using Nightmare´s body as a shield. Aria didn´t run because bullets were flying; for now it was safer to use a human shield to protect herself, however she wasn´t going to lose such a chance to gather data, so she started recording the fight with every sensor and cam she had available to her that didn´t require set ups.

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(_**This is amazing!**_ _**The impossibility of it**_!) Grey had actually dodged bullets from a very small distance, if a normal bullet traveled around 320 m per second that meant that his movements were between that and bellow 343 m per second, because that was speed of sound and there hadn´t been a sound wave for breaking it. Despise the consequences and the danger she decided that it was worth it, she would lose abstraction capacity for a little while and would be basically detached from her body but would be able to "see" and "feel" trough all her equipment, even the cam in her contact lenses (which she disliked to use because of the sting) would be burning with activity, there was no way for running anyways nor would it be afterwards, she would be dazed and her lack of sleep and nourishment would leave her tired and disoriented, she wouldn't even had time to ingest some of her stabilizing pills, but it would be worth it, had she been rested and had taken some pills she would have been almost unstoppable were it an engage situation, but as she was right now she`d have to led her systems take partial control on a stationary position, so she synchronized herself with the electric inputs in her suit and attached systems and send a mental impulse to record everything in slow motion and on double band for normal framing. Her eyes were watching the fight, but she was experiencing it though her equipment, while calculations were running on all her processors… no, not her´s, the suit´s and gadget´s… she couldn´t tell anymore nor would she distract herself by it.

Radiation and chemical exposure, how fast they moved, infrared vision, sound wave movement of air and pressure, energy discharges, every single measure she could take she was taking and recording and analyzing. She didn´t notice the powder in the air and soon afterwards the blood dripping from her nostrils or the electric shocks in her back telling her someone else was did noticed that something wasn´t right, but she was too dazed already.

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* * *

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_-Is the mafia targeting the new foreigner so that you can keep the only one?_ – Grey was not happy.

_-We just met her when you were the one who attacked Lizard! _–Elliot wasn´t happy either

-_You both! /You dared to interrupt us! / This was the first meeting of the slacker´s club with one-chan_! – The twins intertwined each other´s speech.

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A big sword got stuck between all of them.

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-_Mind If I play too?! __**XD**_ - Ace had appeared coming from the bushes and holding another sword in his hand, he was eager to take part. He looked around, the twins were back in their child forms because it was slightly harder to be hit by Grey´s knives as they were smaller. Grey was holding two knives between his fingers on each hand. Elliot was pointing his guns at Grey and there were two forgotten people on and behind a park´s bench; Ace waved happily – _Hi Aria! Do you wanna play too?_

_._

But the girl didn´t respond, the other role holders stopped and saw her hiding behind the unconscious incubus and bleeding from her nose and literally crying blood tears, she was looking at them intently but her vision wasn´t focusing on anyone or anything. The role holders unanimously and immediately agreed to stop (to Ace´s disappointment).

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-ONE-CHAN!

-IT´S YOUR FAULT STUPID RABBIT!

-ARIA! Are you alight? – Grey ran to her.

-Was she hit? – The march hare asked with a bit of guild.

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She understood the show had ended thanks to Ace´s intervention, it had been amazing, she had captured the moment the twins changed age and the movements of Grey avoiding being shot or even redirecting the bullets with his knives, then the strength Ace´s sword must had impacted the concrete floor with to get it stuck up to the middle and how he apparently had taken another sword from somewhere in his coat. But now it was over and she needed to desynch.

While the role holders got near, she stood up staggering a bit and her eyes turned upwards in her sockets so much that only the white part could be seen, making them look as if she didn't have pupils or irises, the blood on her face didn´t help her unsettling appearance either. With a final neural command she shut off the extra devises.

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-Are you fine? Where you hit? Aria? - Grey was at her side.

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* * *

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She felt herself being moved by someone, her eyes got back to a normal position and she saw Grey over her examining for wounds, the strange twins behind him looking a bit concerned but otherwise unamused, the blond guy looking above Grey´s shoulder with guilt and Ace taking his sword from the ground and walking towards them with a slight smile. A small electric jolt make her shock her body for a second, something had not gone completely right, but she was back.

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_-I haVE Not SUStainED extTERnaL DAmagE froM yoU_- Her voice was utterly monotone and robotic and she was staggering a bit back.

_-Are you all right sis?_ – The twins were curious-If you are alright then we can continue a slacker´s reunion.

_-You damn brats!_ – Elliot said and gripped each twin with a hand and threw them over his shoulders so they could not escape. Then he turned to Grey ignoring the angry complains of the twins – _I just came here looking for these brats, it was not my intention to involve the new foreigner. You should take your own slacker back too and take her to a medic _– then he turned to face the still dazed girl and his ears dropped- I_´m sorry miss, I hope we can introduce each other properly next time, for now I´m taking back these two, sorry for the trouble_.

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Grey saw the scene and the march hare about to leave carrying the twins, he then saw his lazy boss still unconscious and knew he´d had to carry him all the way back to the tower, he got Nightmare and threw him over his shoulder to carry him and offered his hand to Aria, but even before she noticed it Ace had grabbed her and thrown her over his shoulder.

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_-ha,ha, it seems that everyone is came to get their personnel back to work **XD** _

_-I DOn´t Work fOr You AcE –_ From over his shoulder she protested without energy.

-_No prob, I can hire you too , besides Sir Peter and Her Majesty are requesting your presence_ _**:) **_

She growled but nothing more, Grey knew she wasn´t fine, but if the hysteric queen and the unstable prime minster had sent Ace for her it would be best if she went, besides if it had been an Order Ace would have to follow it and would fight him to bring her back to the castle, that could endanger her and Nightmare, so he conceded that Ace should take her back to hearts.

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_-Make sure she is fine knight. - _ He said sourly and noticed she had fallen either unconscious or asleep.

_-Yeah, yeah, I want to train with you next time … and with her too, she managed to parry one of my blows you´know? – _The knight went into the bushes and leaved grey to ponder his words (**_She parried Ace´s blow!?_**). Grey then remembered that the knave had no sense of direction, but it was too late, he was already gone.

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* * *

**ACE´s POV**

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I positioned her body so I could carry her in a more comfortable way. That had been interesting.

Peter and Vivaldi had indeed asked me to get her, but I was taking my sweet time, in fact I had come back from executing people at the prison, some idiot had tried to escape me by using daze & sleep powder, I had killed him before he used, and I took the small bag with me when I was done at the prison as a little souvenir.

I was sure I was near the amusement park when I heard her scream, by how strange her voice was, it was impossible to not recognize it. I went to see what was happening and I saw something very amusing, on a bench the caterpillar was either unconscious or sleeping, he wasn´t dead because the dead don´t droll; behind the bench and using the caterpillar as a meat shield was she, giving me her back and completely concentrated on the fight in front of us between Grey, Elliot and the bloody twins.

I didn´t knew what to do, but I didn´t like how all her attention was on them, if this continued they would hit her, but I also wanted to play with them, a fight between role holders rarely had people from various territories as we never made alliances or joined other´s fights. So I got near enough to blow the powder so that it would reach her and then surrounded the place to appear from the other side.

Boo…. They stopped fighting and Elliot took the twins with him back to the hatter´s territory, I saw Aria and she was looking bad, blood was dripping from her nose and from her eyes, she was all shaky and her eyes had gone blank, I didn´t know how she even managed stand up or talk (_**Maybe that wasn´t daze & sleep powder… ups, I hope I didn´t poison her on**_ _**accident**_) Grey took the unconscious Nightmare and before he could take Aria I got her on my shoulder, it was sort of my fault anyways. I tough Grey would try to take her back to the tower but he knew I was following orders, so he didn´t insist, I hate taking orders because of my rol.

If I kept going I would be back at the castle in a few time chances, with luck it would be before she wakes up. I moved her and saw her sleeping face still dirty bellow one of her eyes from her dried blood_**. **_She was trembling slightly _**(**_ _**I wonder if she is affecting me or other role holders already?) **_ I licked the blood from her face and noticed she her skin was getting really hot, so continued on my way. Good thing I know a shortcut.

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* * *

_._

**And so is how the "slacker´s club" was founded, to be a member you must be lazy and to attend one of their reunions it must be during work hours and you ought to be slacking off XD**

**And she finally got to see part of the hatter´s crew, not exactly met them but close enough I guess. What do you think Elliot and the twins think about her and what could happen? **

**What do you think about how that little misunderstanding ended up in a fight and the thing with Ace? **


	17. Chapter 17

**We´ll go a bit faster in this chapter, tell me if you like it more this way or if you want more detailed description and longer chapters.**

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* * *

**Chapter 17**

**.**

**.**

**VIVALDI´S POV**

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It had been irresponsible of us to send the knight , the girl looked like a mess, dirt and remains from her forest trip tangled her hair and we could see dried blood on her clothes, the knight had said that he found her cowering behind a bench during a fight between the hatter´s hare and guards and the lizard she had been poisoned or something according to him because her blood had poured from her eyes and nose and during the trip back she had been shaking and unconscious the whole time. The knight had stumbled on the amusement park and that precious kitty opened a door for him (_**We should price the kitten, we´ll sent him a nice amount of canned food**_).

Still we were really angry, those foolish males had mistreated a delicate foreigner… we were not amused, we´d like to behead them, but we´ll wait for that, first we ordered guards to take her to one of our rooms so we could personally attend her, and as punishment we ordered the knight to do his job for once and to train and prepare the troops for the ball.

In private we managed to undress her after examining her attire for a while and finding how it held itself, we´ve never seen something like it before and we didn´t knew how her attire was to be cleaned, so we simply put it aside with care (_**such strange and tight clothes**_) , it was heavy like an armored plate and dense, we could see small compartments all over it like scales, but there was no way to open any and the whole was thick with various layers, when we touched the interior we received a shock of electricity that burned lightly the skin of our finger, we got the to peel the suit off her limb by limb, we noticed it also had small metal circles with needle tips in the middle that barely graced her skin, however when we turned her to peel the suit from her back we noticed that running along her spine at both sides of the column the same needle things actually were latched into her flesh just enough to drill the skill but not to draw blood. We didn´t know what to think of such thing, but we knew that there was a reason for such.

Examining the suit we could see strange gold and silver straight lines and intersecting points in the inner layer that were in contact with her skin besides the needles in the points, to our confusion those lines sometimes sparked. We understood that her armor was protesting for being separated of it´s master.

Bellow that she wore some strangely soft looking plastic cups and a scandal sexy lace thong, those we leaved in place, but our curiosity was big, we couldn´t help reaching to her chest to see if we could sense the beat of her heart, after that we ordered a female doctor and nurses to come and tend to her while we went to order for clothes to be brought to her (_**I know our presence can distract them, so we´ll leave them**_ _**to their job**_).

We smiled, we wanted to see her wear something more feminine.

As we came back and the doctor informed us of her status, she had been subjected to daze & sleep powder that had been mixed with a strong poison, it was surprising that a foreigner could survive such substance; her body had shaken to sweat it and the rest she eventually absorbed it. The doctor also informed us of her person being unnourished, with lack of rest and sleep and of some strange scars and markings in her body. We had seen those, those scars were really thin and almost imperceptible, unless you saw them up close, like little threats that we noticed matched the golden and silver ones on the inner part of her suit, they were located only at the sides of her tights, shoulders and ribs. The little scars looked burned in her flesh.

We ordered the medical team to leave us and we went to check on her person.

She was resting on the bed, the nurses had taken care of cleaning her and putting on some still sexy but more normal underwear and had led lose her hair. Her body was a revelation on itself, toned and well formed by whatever hardships she had endured. We know that we are beautiful, we are wonderlands perfect beauty in a woman, but she is a rough and somewhat wild beauty, we can´t help but admire her body (we haven´t seen another naked woman but ourselves and we feel our cheeks heathen) seeing her so bare makes us realize how delicate and vulnerable a foreigner is but how strong a woman can be. We covered her and left her to rest.

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* * *

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**ARIA´S POV**

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I´ts been a few time changes and I´m back in clover tower. After I woke up in hearts Vivaldi provided me with clean nice clothes (_**it was a female formal suit**_), she had taken off my suit (which made me panic when I woke up but it was close to me and completely intact) and had some medical staff attend me. Apparently I had been subjected to some drug called daze and sleep powder and it had been mixed with some kind of poison. I sighted of relief at that, I had tough that it had been a damage in the connections of my were kind of surprised that I was alive, even more surprised when I requested samples of my blood if they had taken any and samples of the substance if they could get it so that I could take a few more doses and become immune to it. It had sounded crazy, I know that, but I am incredibly resistance to any chemicals, drugs and substances. When I was little I had allergies and I took a lot of medicines and eventually I became immune and too resistant to everything, anesthetic for 7 hours does not even last 3 hours for me, if I get hurt an need painkillers I needs lots of them and constantly, I am drugged… well a bunch of drugs don´t even work, and that also means that I can drink lots of alcohol before it kicks, but when it finally does… well, to sum it I can metabolize, absorb and even become immune to things as long as they´re not too lethal, which also means that if I get sick from common things I can´t count with common medicine unless it´s in almost poisoning quantities. Yep, a flue would suck for me.

However there had been something strange in that little accident. I checked my stuff but everything was normal, even if drugged and poisoned there was no reason for the interference in my synch, it was as if... as if I had tried to synchronize with another huge system at the same time, however my lectures showed no other digital or even analog system that I may had connected to... that had been weird.

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I was invited to a tea party (more like a banquet) and Vivaldi conversed avidly, I was wearing the clothes she gave me plus my collar while I left my suit charging with the sunlight under the window in my temporary room; the prime minister joined us and looked quite surprised to see me wearing something else but was as nasty as always; who knows where Ace had disappeared to. I discussed work with the bunny and we even advanced some issues regarding transport logistics, Vivaldi was impressed and even pressed the bunny to make me help with some of the preparations left for the ball (which turned out in my favor as I was now in power to hire some personnel, which would be obviously mine).

Once I finished in hearts I suited up again and went to the circus and helped White with (_**who would have tough?)**_ finances, the circus was doing fine but he wanted an advantage over the amusement park (_**I don´t think he actually cares about it that much**_), so I leased him the recipe for churros (_**a world without churros is an abomination, I had correct that... maybe I can lease another recipe to Gowland... **_) and improved the 80-20 rule (80% of your revenue will come from 20% of what you do, so you must invest and improve that 20% with 80% of your effort). Black wasn´t around, he apparently was away dealing with some guys who broke their comrade's clocks (destroying clocks is like the ultimate crime here).

Then I went to the clock tower to reach clover and Julius was almost passed out in his desk mumbling about having to restock on food and parts, he saw me and then somehow he hired me to go and fetch the stuff urgently. He was asleep over his desk when I came back, I moved quietly to put the food in the fridge and the parts in the table of his office leaving him to get some rest, I leaved a note and for if he woke up and I went to sleep in Alice´s old room. The next morning Julius had probably gone to sleep in his own real bed so I crossed the door to clover (_**still analyzing that portal door and need to ask Boris about his teleportation ability**_).

Once in clover Grey was all over me asking if I was fine and what had happened, I told him and Nightmare about the poisoned powder but dismissed their overly bugging attitude as if they cared (**Author´s note: Maybe they do girl**).

I finished erasing any autocratic steps in the chain (_**after I managed to sent Grey to go and bug Nightmare and leave me alone! he acted as I would break something [**_**Author´s note: maybe he thinks you´re the one in danger of breaking]**) after a few hour of nice working solitude and creating easier formats and processes. I was revising the fruits of my work with Grey (I didn´t know where Nightmare had gone), when Ace appeared crossing the same door I had used that morning, to fetch me so we could go drinking with Joker.

Grey was, to say the least "horrified" and tried to argue about me going (_**Who does he think he is?),**_ while Ace just keep pushing me to the door; since I was going anyways no matter what he said, in the end he decided to tag along (_**The more the merrier…).**_

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* * *

-A karaoke bar? – We all said **O_O**

-Yep – **XD **Ace responded very happily and dragged us inside.

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* * *

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**This was a short chapter, but I wanted to advance things faster rather than detailing all this chapter too much (even though a friend wanted the scene with Vivaldi to get longer and more… intimate. What do you think? ), so there probably will be one or two more chapters and we can finally get to the ball event. But before that:**

**.**

**-Do you want me to put the songs the role holders sing if they do?**

**-What could be a reason for her to actually attend a ball she does not want to attend?**

**-What kind of music do you think she will sing? ;) **

**.**

**GIVE ME YOUR COMMENTS.**


	18. Chapter 18

**This chapter was so long that it´s split in two.**

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**CHAPTER 18**

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**ARIA´S POV**

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How had we ended up here? Oh yes, when we met with Joker (_**And they didn´t look happy at Ace or Grey being there… which apparently was mutual for Grey**_) we couldn´t agree where to go, so I opened the dice app I had in my tablet (_**from when I used to play rol games like dungeon & dragons or any of the world of darkness… did I mention that I was a big geek?... ok, maybe I still am**_) and we threw digital dice to see who got to decide. To the dismay of the other males Ace won and chose a place he said was in Gowland´s territory.

They didn´t let Ace take us through one of his "shortcuts", and when we arrived at the territory surrounding the amusement park we roamed a bit until Boris found us (and somehow joined us) and took us to the place Ace knew. It was a karaoke bar named "The wolves den".

We got inside and once again I was part of those movie moments where someone enters a place and everything goes quiet (_**with the exception of some people choking on their drinks and some others spitting them**_). We went to claim a table of our own, I sat at the right of Joker (White) and Ace at his left (Black), at my right was Grey and between grey and Ace was Boris. Very soon the bar was empty except for us.

.

Even someone as antisocial as me knew that this wasn´t going as fun as planned. White´s fake smile looked... I don´t know, more feral? Black was scowling more than usual (_**something´s bothering him but no idea what**_). Grey was glaring at Ace while keeping an eye on both Jokers (_**maybe Ace is the same happy go lucky idiot, or at least he appears to be**_), Boris is looking very uncomfortable and I just realized that I only knew songs from my world. But it was also a good chance to ask some questions, so what the hell!

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–_Hey Boris? Can I ask you something?_

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Boris´s kitty ears perked- _Sure_

_._

_-I already saw you use "doors" to travel to separate places, like the door that connects clock tower to clover tower. Do you can reach places you have not been to before or do you have to know the destination beforehand? If possible please also explain to me how you do it._

_-Uuh? Mmhhh? I just do… but I do need to know where I´m going, and as long as I´ve been there and there´s a door I can get there. Why do you want to know? _

_-How can I not? It´s an amazing phenomenon, and that is not even taking into account all the possible applications. – (__**Wasn´t it obvious?) **_All the amazing things that can happen here in wonderland and they don´t even study them, I understand it is not in their nature to explore and question, but it´s such magnificent potential wasted…

_-He ****** can do that because he is the ******** Cheshire cat, it´s part of the abilities of his role. So **** off , It´s not something anyone else can ***** do. – _Black is grumpy, don´t know why and it bothers me. However all of them seem to agree with what he said, I guess I shall tell them a thing or two.

_-It has nothing to do with just the role, Black. It´s the fact that it is possible at all. Never say "It´s impossible!", rather find out "HOW it´s possible? ". How are the doors in the towers connected then? Or how does the land moves sometimes. Analyze, correlate, postulate hypothesizes. Perhaps it´s not that they move, but that the way they are connected changes, but so … how? Science is not only about "WHY", it's about "WHY NOT?!" __**;3**_

_._

_-You may be right. - _Boris smiled and relaxed a bit, he is a curios being too for what I know, he probably sympathizes.

_-Curiosity killed the cat – _Black wasn´t convinced.

_-Hey! – _Boris didn´t like the phase.

_-But satisfaction brought him back. Or maybe it was the technological advances created with the knowledge obtained by the results of the research that took place after a simply curious inquiry. _**^_^ **

**-**_And that´s why you cuddle your ideas and questions my dear_? –White was a little more convinced than Black. But they were still not understanding.

-Science does not_ "cuddle" ideas and neither do I. Science crash test them against a brick wall at 100km/hr while monitoring all the factors and then examines the pieces. If an idea is sound then the surviving pieces will be those of the wall. Then we repeat the experiment to make sure it was no causality. Proceeding with whatever other experiment and calculation as needed, in the noble pursuit of science and knowledge… and sometimes profit. Nonlinear mathematical models must be developed and applied to real world phenomena. I shall seek, and find, the hidden fractal keys which can unravel all the amazing things that otherwise can't be explained. Even when empirical data's your only clue, when formulating a research plan. _

_- I didn´t know foreigners could be so…I don´t even know – _Grey was probably even more confused than Joker. And I think I know why.

-_Are you comparing me again with that Alice girl? again? _ _That is why you don´t get it, see. Well, you don´t even know me really. What are your references? How many foreigners do you know? There is little data about us foreigners. So I can´t blame you for such a simple conclusion. But c´mon! –_ Again that Alice girl. Why are they so obsessed with her? **(**_**I could tell them that I am at an exceptional extreme. I am truly unique. Less than 1% of the population has one of the genetically characteristics for biological psychopathy that I do. And as far as I know there is no one out there whose mental process is not thinking but processing. But I won´t. No, I won´t tell them.)**_

_-And what does that mean? – _Boris asked.

_-Ignore it, it´s of no real consequence to you, once I go back to my world… _

_-So you´re really eager to go back home, aren´t you?- Ace was the one who broke the small silence that followed my words._

_-…..Back home…? – _I actually snorted at that and let my disgust show clearly, not only Ace, all of them had reacted in a similar way to the "going home" thing; I really suck at reading their expressions or postures. Human interaction is something I never bothered with.

.

I sighted (_**It´s not their fault that they don´t know about it, or about me or my situation**_)… maybe I should tell them some of it, it won´t matter in the long run anyways, nor is it an information they can use against me. But how can I … why would I even speak about it? … why would I be willing to?

Well, I guess it´s a fair exchange of information, I do know about them a bit thanks to all the info my lullaby gathered (_**Of all the names my little organization could have chosen they decided to used "lullaby" because that´s what "Berceuse" means. Mental eye roll**_ .

I guess I can tell them a bit about me, but… to even think about it…. all the rage, the despair, all that as happened…. I… I feel so tired, so much has happened… Maybe they won´t even believe it. If I hadn´t lived though it I don´t think I would believe it either…

.

_-Hey… Aria, are you all right? You were lost for a minute there_ – Grey asked and I looked up. Indeed I had gotten lost in my toughs for a minute. My first were still shaking and there´s no way they haven´t noticed it.

-_mmhh.. yeah…_ - I closed my eyes for a second and from one of my pants pockets I took out a metal case. I opened it to discover that I had only 2 cuban cigars left. I took one out and lighted it.

_-You smoke?_ – Grey was kind of surprised, but I didn´t paid him much attention

-_Yeah, it's a horrible habit, avoid it_ - I aspired deeply and let the smoke come out of my nostrils leaving a somewhat itchy sensation.

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My eyes were somewhat lost into looking at the ceiling as I reclined in my chair a bit and smoked; In the calmest tone I could muster, and taking care of not looking at anyone, I said:

_._

_-Going back to my world does not mean that I´ll ever be able to go back home. Not even the ashes of my heart will reach my land, if things go as I plan or as I fear there won´t even be ashes left of me (__**Or a place to go back at all**__). The nuclear blast will vaporize everything. _– They didn´t say anything, so I continued_- Only my death awaits me back in my world – _I smiled very sarcastically at the whole situation, in a very morbid way it was funny. -_ But even so, I already died a hero once and lived as a villain, to do the (__**sometimes terrible**__) things that needed to be done. Even if I am truly neither (__**I´m just myself**__). I already gave up my life for something and the world mourned my loss. I´m going back to claim my death and the needed deaths to stop everyone from dying horribly and stupidly. _

_._

It took them some moments to process my words.

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_-I´m afraid I don´t understand it dear_. – It surprised me a bit that it was White the one who spoke. I looked at them (_**oh**_, _**what the heck, I already opened my mouth, might as well tell them a bit more.)**_ I took a drink, offered Grey to my cigar to share and continued. This time I smiled lightly and more sincerely as I recalled some things, but it was talking about it, sharing it that (I think) felt nice.

.

_-I will sum it, don´t count on details... (__**at least from when I ended university**__) I lived, studied, learned, traveled… ( __**And when the world broke into blocks I somehow became a sort of "cultural ambassador" and that gave me access to visit research centers around the world. They of course wanted to use me as poster girl for their propaganda but instead I did whatever I wanted and got myself involved in the cold war between the economic blocks to get a bit of revenge for some "historical wounds".)**__ I was in a research center when the place was gassed and bombed __**(It was then that I got this suit and, it hurt as hell the first time I got the needles piercing into my skin and sending the shocks, but it was worth it.**__) and I was declared dead (__**even when they never found a body, but with so much rubrics there were many disappearances**__). But I survived and helped the resistance (__**or whomever paid me enough**__) against the government of that country or against interests from other countries and blocks (__**or whatever I was paid to do, getting information, hacking systems, improving their communal agriculture, making businesses profitable, anything my knowledge could conceive…**__), all while I moved to a certain location (__**It´s been a long road, but I will get there on way or another**__), all the while causing as much trouble and collateral damage as possible (__**not always on purpose**__). I was heading that way when I "jumped" into wonderland and that place is where I´m heading once I go back to my world (__**As soon as I reach and break into a nuclear or military facility I will synch with their systems and send the missiles to other missile launching places and their main economic and logistic centers, I will crush them like the feeble pests they are!**__). I will go there to achieve something that will kill me as a small side effect (__**I will also blow the place where I am, no evidence left).**_

_._

I continued smoking,_ ( __**Perhaps I said more than what I had intended too**__ ), _but I somehow feel better. Here I´m not a and just enjoying the moment.

-_I might be rushing to my dead but that does not mean I´m not gonna enjoy every second of life and learn as much as I can while I´m still alive._

-You are crazy. – Black stated calmly

-_Well… DUH! Of course I´m crazy. My intellect and mind are outside the standards of what a "normal" mind would be defined, and that is biological, not clinical. But then again there is also just so much shit someone can see, experience and know about, before getting very angry and tired of it all. I have absolutely nothing to lose.__A life spent merely for the sake of living is no better than that of a filthy cur. I won´t claim that I do things for a greater good or anything. And sure, whatever I discover for science will be left behind to be used by science later on, even the incident that will cause my dead (__**and that of many as I plan**__)will be analyzed and the data will be of scientific use (__**But mostly I do shit because I feel like it and because it's part of my agenda**__). So say hello Joker, I´m your new employee!_

_-Hello! – White smiled and waved while Black was gaping._

_-Oh!oh! I want to hire you too! – Ace raised his hand energycaly __**:D**_

-_How can you be so ok with getting killed! You can´t be replaced! Ever!_ – Boris didn´t like what I had said, neither did Grey.

_-Of course I can´t be replaced, the tons of knowledge and potential I have will be lost once I die. –_ Of course I know it, and it will be a real shame.-_I´m fighting my own war, it´s a lost war and I have no rules. No boundaries and no loyalties. __But don´t worry, I don´t plan on going before the vial fills, so you can continue with whatever game you are playing. And I assure you that I do not plan to interfere with wonderland at all, be at ease. –_I offered my cigar to Grey.

_-You have to wait for the vial to fill to go home anyways- _Grey took a small inhalation from my cigar, coughed a bit and gave it back to me. (**_sissy, cigarrettes are too light, cigars are better_**).

-DO. NOT. THINK ME AN IMBECILE. I "**don´t**" have to wait for it to be filled; I can go back the moment I want (_**you don´t have to be a genius to figure that out**_). I_ also know that foreigners appear rarely on wonderland, so I´m gibing you the benefit of time. I´m not sure what the game you are playing is about, but I know that I am an important piece for you to use; foreigners are a nice commodity, right? To have someone that is outside of the rules of this world must be really useful. I will let you play while it fills up. I´m already letting you use me, so use this time wisely and I shall do the same. **¬_¬**_

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They were stunned; they probably never anticipated that I would lose my calm or unravel all that information about the vial (_**and myself**_), but it´s true, it came to me after the effects of the poison passed. Strong poisons were deadly no matter if you get a bit quantity in your body or a lot. And what would be stronger than a substance that is meant to transport someone from one world to another? I haven´t experiment with the vial´s liquid (_**YET…)**_.

I need a bit of personal space for a moment. I have said more than enough for now.

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-_If you excuse me and even if you don´t, I´d like to hog the 1° song_ _and maybe some few more. I think I will start with something light_. **^_^**

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I didn´t waste time and got up, I knew they had been affected by all I had said, but they didn´t act, probably because they were still thinking about all that I had revealed. But it doesn´t matter, it does not affect them or wonderland, there is no reason for them to take much notice of me, besides… they are competing against each other. But once I go back it wont matter, whether I can take something useful for me from wonderland or not I will do what I must. World War 3 must stop and fast.

But for now I´m free… I´ll worry about my world once I go back.

I went to the console at the side of the scenery, it was in a small platform and even had some musical instruments ready to be played. I took out my old cellphone full of music (a few terabytes worth of hundreds of tracks of many kinds. At least I salvaged that) and connected it. I adjusted the dial in my neck to modulate my voice into something raspy, deep and male-ish. Then I pushed play and the off-vocal version of an old song called "Feuer Frei " from Rammstein started **XD** (**Author´s note: just look at the song in youtube , or for any rammstein song**)

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**END POV**

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All the present role holders looked at her with a **O_O** face. All she´d said them mere minutes before was forgotten temporary.

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**ACE´S POV**

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**:D** (_**Awesome!**_ ) – Maybe she´s as lost as me. Or maybe she just lost her mind.

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**BORIS´S POV**

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**O_O**

I certainly didn´t expect that, heck, I didn´t even think they were serious about a karaoke night. In truth I was very suspicious when I saw role holders from different territories not trying to kill each other in a situation that was not an official reunion, that´s why I followed them. Even more so when those role holders were some of (if not) the most dangerous and strong (damn, just thinking about Ace or Grey working with joker sent shivers down my spine and put my tail on edge)….no, just the fact that both of joker are here is scary as it is. Worse yet is that she is here too.

But is she serious? What could be so bad? She´s working for her own destruction! Is she really crazy or is there something else? Maybe Joker had something to do with it, but… something´s weird, and I don´t mean her voice… although that song is kinda cool.

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**GREY´S POV**

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O_O

I … I… what can I do? What should I think? Maybe I should leave her be for now and tell Nightmare about it. I know what´s to see too much dead, and wonderland is too violent for a foreigner. If what she told us is true then she is just endangering herself more.

(That music….) I think that so far this is the strangest surprise she had showed…yet. I was seriously worried after Ace took her to the castle. She doesn´t know who she is dealing with, I am no saint, but her affiliations are too dangerous for her.

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**BLACK´S POV**

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O_O WTF!?

-How ******* crazy is she!? And how the ******* ******** ********** is she even able to sing that way!? Not that the song is bad, it sounds actually good. ARGHHH! I´m still mad at her! She came to my territory and didn´t even visited me. She spent all her time with my counterpart! And then she lets the knight and the lizard come too….ggrrr…even the cat joined!

And she wants to go and die to kill some ********!? NO ******** WAY! That´s very inconsiderate of her, next time she comes** I´ll **put her to work at the** prison )**

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**WHITE´S POV**

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She surprises me constantly. She´s quite the entertaining thing. I´ll let all she paid pass for now but I´ll use later.

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Ha,ha, When she said something "light" I had expected some sort of girly pop song, her cultured and polite (_**despite her constant cussing outbursts towards my counterpart**_) contradict completely her appearance. She can be so professionally dedicated, yet such a money loving whore (_**But then again, she is a mercenary**_) , how uncaring but passionate she is with Science. And how ruthless she can be with business, she even negotiated (_**more likely just "stated her terms")**_ with me for "leasing" me such a delicious recipe, she even baked some for me (_**Black is gonna fume when he learns that **_**^w^ ** _**After I blocked him and set things so that she would work for me but left him alone he´s been in a sour mood**_. _**Sorry dear other me, but it was payback for keeping me out of the loop last time **_**XD **).

How delighted I am. I am not happy at the intromission of other role holders, but I can get a ruse from them... I wonder If I can say something to make her get away from them? Or the other way around? Oh.. how will I use all she said ? Just so much fun to come! **)**

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**ARIA´S POV**

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After I finished there was silence followed by some applause and faces that weren´t sure what expression to use, readjusted my voice dial and was about to go back to the table when a bunch of armed faceless entered by every single entry or exit in the place, following Gowland who was holding a shotgun and looked ready to fire. In less than a second everyone (_**and I seriously mean EVERYONE… except me**_) had a weapon ready and were about to start shooting; the only reason they hadn´t started to was because Gowland hadn´t start shooting (_**yet**_), he looked around confused.

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_**-What the hell is going on here!? What are you doing here!? Where is Blood?- **_The park owner asked with a bit of suspicion and a lot of confusion.

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**And ARIA is a hard rock and heavy metal head and videogame/anime fan XD**

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**And so it is revealed, her plan is to somehow get synched with the systems controlling tactical weapons and destroy other tactical weapons around the world before those weapons are used against other targets. And she will use whatever she learns from wonderland to facilitate her goals. But she just might be too late for that.**

**Maybe it´s better if she does not go back to her own world. And yeah, she´s somewhat crazy, but she´s seen just too many horrible things even before the war started and Science is like her happy pills. She´s also a biological psycho, which means that she can´t create or absorb the substances the body uses to make the brain react and create bonds, care about other things and beings, feel truly happy or truly sad. She can´t feel guild, empathy or sympathy. She doesn´t care. Or at least she thinks so. But is that true? **

**REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK**


	19. Chapter 19

**.**

**CHAPTER 19**

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**ARIA´S POV**

**.**

If I don´t do something this will become a shooting gallery and I would be just a big target (_**I KNOW! The sound system in this karaoke bar is both digital and analog, if I wirelessly synch with it to manipulate it, maybe I can distract them long enough for me to reach an exit and escape!)**_

I reconnected with my devises, the needles of the suit entering in contact with my nervous system to pass on the electric impulses of my brain, enhacing and transmit them as signals. It is always risky, by connecting to everything my own body becomes just another device. It´s hard to have to think about breathing or making my heart beat as if it were another machine. And always exist the craving to reach even more systems to enhance one self, to follow the R.A.B.I.T. (Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers)

If it weren´t because I already think in impulses and not in words (and because I don´t have the "emotional" factor) I would be dead like the others that tried using this suit before I got it from that research center. It was originally designed to control military artillery and armored vehicles; I just gave it another uses. And it saved my life during that bombing and on multiple occasions. But I still avoid using it for synchs unless necessary, if I synch with my own stuff.. well, it´s already as if it's part of me, as if I have already left some of my mind there; But to synch other devises takes too much concentration, if I were attacked and be knocked of… well I hope the connection breaks or I´d be death very fast.

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**END POV**

**.**

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_**(IMPORTANT AUTHOR´S NOTE: open youtube of whatever and look for the song "still alive" from the videogame portal**_ )

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"The wolves den" was ready and about to become a shoot-down action scene when some curious music notes started flooding the karaoke bar trough the speakers and the foreigner started singing in a digital sounding female voice.

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_This was a triumph.  
I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.  
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction._

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Although everyone was still pointing their guns at someone else, there was not a single person that didn´t turned to look at the foreigner, even if through the corner of their eyes (well, those who had eyes anyways).

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_It is for Science!  
We do what we must  
because we can._

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By now Role holders knew that she absolutely adored Science (and was somewhat crazy), but none had tough that she´d sing about it, much less in such a tense moment. Was she crazy?

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_For the good of all of us.  
Except the ones who are dead._

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And then everyone sweat dropped **-_-0 **

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_But there's no sense crying over every mistake.  
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake._

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Ace : (_**Cake!**_ _**nice going girl :D **_)

Grey: (_**Did her eyes turned inside her sockets for a moment?)**_

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_And the Science gets done.  
And you make a neat gun.  
For the people who are still alive._

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Boris: (_**Huh? Making guns? … It doesn't sound bad)**_

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_I'm not even angry._

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Everyone: (_**When a woman says she ain´t angry then she IS angry**_)

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_I'm being so sincere right now._

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Aria put a hand over her chest as if to empathize the "sincere" gesture

Joker: (_**You are a very bad Liar dear! XD )**_

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_Even though you broke my heart.  
And killed me._

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Grey: (_**What is she even singing about?**_ )

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_And tore me to pieces._

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Gowland: (_**She sings wonderfully! Such cuteness in her voice! ... Who is controlling the sound system**_?)

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_And threw every piece into a fire._

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Boris noticed that something was shining in the eyes of the foreigner, it was not a gleam, it was something that reflected/emitted light covering her pupils. Not only that, the things in her arms casted some reflections of mall colored light dots. And even stranger… he felt a pull around his clock, it was like the sensation of anticipation he got when sneaking into the castle grounds, but he dismissed it at being caused by the situation around.

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_As they burned it hurt because… I was so happy for you!_

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Aria: (_**Yes, I got their attention!)**_

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_Now these points of data make a beautiful line.  
And we're out of beta.  
We're releasing on time.  
So I'm GLaD. I got burned.  
Think of all the things we learned  
for the people who are still alive._

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White: (_**Amazing! She is not singing in a stinky karaoke bar, she is performing magnificly for us, her public. The swift movement of her hips at the rhythm, the arcs that her hands trace in the air, how she bends her knee a bit or throws her shoulders back! How she looks at the public or does not! And this fools don´t even realize it. Perhaps I should have hired her for something else than numbers.**_ _**There is no way that she is improvising completely, she has some experience. But what exactly? I´VE DECIDED! She´s fun!**_) – Joker felt emotion stirring his clocks, such a nice performance and during such situation, he considered she had some talent.

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_Go ahead and leave me._

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Grey: (_**Why does it sound so personal?**_) – There had been something else the moment she stated singing this song, it was different than the last piece she had sing, and it had nothing to do with the music. He could feel in his clock.

Gowland: (_**And who is controlling the illumination? , there is no one there!)-**_Gowland was surprised, Blood was not there, but that didn´t help given who was instead, at least he knew how to deal with Blood. Right now he was about to start a fight with the knave of hearts, the assassin lizard and Joker. Not to mention Boris was with them. He didn´t know what the hell was happening. His confusion was even greater with the singing foreigner, but her song was happily nice, he could feel the power of music with all his clock.

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_I think I prefer to stay inside._

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It was as if the entire bar was cooperating with her song, (Because it was) the lights shined or turned down when she needed, the sound became surround and moving with each phrase, even the smoke machines were cooperating.

.  
_Maybe you'll find someone else to help you._

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People had lowered their guns without realizing it, they were too interested by the show the foreigner was presenting.

.  
_Other foreigner maybe  
THAT WAS A JOKE.  
HAHA. FAT CHANCE._

_._

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Boris: (_**This IS personal… but the only other foreigner is Alice…!**_)

.  
_Anyway, this cake is great.  
It's so delicious and moist._

_._

Ace : (_**Cake!:D **_) – Ace was delighted, he likes cake and her song included it. He didn´t know if the humming sensation was from his stomach or from his clock.

.

.  
_Look at me still talking  
when there's Science to do.  
When I look out there, it makes me GLaD I'm not you._

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She pointed at the public and then at herself as if dismissing everyone.

.  
_I've experiments to run.  
There is research to be done.  
On the people who are still alive._

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And some role holders remembered that she wanted to experiment on/with them.

She leaved the microphone in it´s stand and went to the bartender should have been, she wrote a small note on a paper, left some bills and got out through the service door.

.  
_And believe me I am still alive..  
I'm doing Science and I'm still alive.  
I feel FANTASTIC and I'm still alive.  
While you're dying I'll be still alive.  
And when you're dead I will be still alive._

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They continued hearing her voice as she leaved the place as fast as she could.

Gowland: (_**How can music still be playing if there´s no one controlling the console and she left the microphone in it´s place?!)**_

.  
_STILL ALIVE_

_STILL ALIVE…_

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Once the song ended the lights remained still.

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Gowland looked around. – _**Seriously, what are you doing here**_?_** What is happening?**_

-_**That has to be the strangest and funniest way someone has ditched me**_! **XD **Ace stated.

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-And it downed upon the role holders that the girl had ditched them all and run away.

.

.

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As soon as Aria was out of the bar by the back door and checked her sensors for a clear passage. She cut of the synch connection and ran as fast as she could, she had wanted to close it earlier but she couldn´t risk it. She had felt it again, the sensation that there was other system nearby, it had been clearer, it was like a network that encompassed a bunch of smaller devices, but she couldn´t understand what they were, she had reached a bit to them, but it was not a moment to lose focus (luckily when there was music around she could use the rhythm to guide her respiration and heart beat but even so it had been hard). Maybe they were analog things in the building, like electric outputs in the building connected to a terminal or something.

She had dodged any encounter and was a few blocks away when she dashed behind a building to take cover and chose her next move. In screen she saw there was I person behind it, so she dashed again to use the momentum to take out her rod and hit with more strength. She managed to stop in time.

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_-Pierce!_

_-Ekk!_

_._

The dormouse squeaked and spilled on both of them the liquid of the bottle he had been holding.

.

-_What is going on! We´re shrinking!_

_-It´s the "drink me" potion chu!_

_-THE WHAT?!_

_-He´s getting near chu! Let´s run!_

_._

They had been reduced to the size of dolls. Pierce took her by the wrist and dragged her into a crack in the wall of the building. Outside Boris passed by hurriedly without even noticing.

.

.

* * *

**AT THE WOLVES DEN**

_._

_._

Gowland had dismissed his employees and had asked Boris to go and get Aria back while he checked the illumination and sound from the karaoke. The rest meanwhile continued drinking and pondering all that they had learned about the new foreigner.

Finally Gowland gave up, there was nothing strange with the equipment, he checked the note she had left and went to take the empty sit Boris had left.

.

-_Seriously. Why are you all here?-_ Gowland asked Grey, the sanest one of the leftover party.

_-Because Aria somehow invited Joker a drink and Ace joined and got to decide where to go and I joined them so that she wouldn´t get killed and then the cat found us wandering in your territory and joined too._ – Grey had begun smoking his own cigarettes.

_- She invited_ _Joker a drink?!_ –Gowlan couldn´t believe.

_-J__**e**__a__**l**__o__**u**__s?_ – Joker said in unison grinning at the marquis. – _And you heard her Lizard, smoking is a bad habit. _

_-I still don´t know which song was cooler…_ – Ace complained – _You should have heard her other song Mr. Park owner! It was the manliest song I´ve ever heard! __**:)**_

_-And why are you here Gowland? –_ Grey asked. He wasn´t exactly happy at the cause of her sudden retreat, or rather he wasn´t happy that he could have failed to protect her. Had she not pulled off that stunt, a fight would have surely ensued and more than likely she would have gotten hurt.

_-A worker came telling me that some role holders have entered the territory and taken control of a bar. I thought it was Blood and his crew. Normally they are the only role holders that work together for things like that._ – Gowland honestly replied and served himself a drink, the situation was already unusual enough as it was, he needed a drink.

_-My, my… should we consider this an "unofficial meeting" then?_ – White had something on his mind.

_-Cut it off!_ – Black wasn´t in the mood to deal with his counterpart´s games.

_-Boo…_ - White felt his counterpart´s mood – _But I was being serious. Tonight had provided quite a few too many surprises.- _Then he turned towards the other roleholders-_ And we learned quite a bit don't you all think?_

-_Fine then. I agree to consider this a reunion_. _Now explain what are you talking about?-_ Gowland agreed to accept this as a reunion, according to the rules now it was, representatives from three or more territories were present and abiding by the meetings rules. He didn´t like Joker (**_But who did!_**?), he didn´t like having so many dangers in his territory at the same time (Ace was the strongest of them all and Grey was the only one who could spar with the knight). But if Joker had asked for this to become a meeting then he had a reason for it, otherwise they would have left already. And whatever intention he had, it was better to listen, especially because it probably was about the new foreigner.

.

Just in time Boris came back, however he was alone. He had been unable to find her anywhere.

.

.

* * *

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**SOMEWHERE BELOW A BUILDING IN THE AMUSEMENT PARK**

.

.

The pair had finally stopped at the middle of an open space. Both were panting from running, they had gone through a laberythm of tunnels and pipes, up and down , sometimes taking a slide or jumping on something that served as a trampoline.

.

_-Where are we Pierce? Huf, huf…. But more importantly... How does that "potion" works?_

_-We´re in one of my safe houses, chu …huf,huf, chu… the potion shrink whomever is spilled with it_

_-Let´s rest a bit _

_-Ok, chu :)_

.

Both dropped to the ground resting on each others back. Pierced clapped two times and light filled the space.

.

_-Whut?... whatever, I´m tired._ –All that socializing had left her mentally tired - _Tell me about the potions. How they are made, how they work and for how long, and where can I get them or the ingredients to prepare them, please tell me too about any other potions there may be that I don´t know._

_-Ok, chu!_

_._

After some useless explanation from Pierce, he promised to teach her how to brew them (he used them so often that he actually prepared themselves) and offered her to stay there that night, she accepted with the condition that he should take her to hearts the next day (she would remain small until they arrived to hearts to avoid meeting anyone).

.

_-For being somewhere below a building, it is surprisingly clean_. – Aria commented.

_._

_._

* * *

_._

**AT THE WOLVES DEN**

_._

_-It´s amazing how she found a way to fill her vial without playing the game. –_ Everyone was looking at White - _Or as she said… role holders are the ones playing, not her._

_-What do you mean_? –Gowland felt out of the loop. – _Explain yourself Joker._

-_How rude Gowland. But it´s obvious, by working in various territories she will interact with everyone filling her vial faster but no one will get to pass much time with her and thus there won´t be any chances for anyone to capture her heart.- _White smirked - _Tell me. How does it feel to know that you will lose another game? The so rare occurrence of a second foreigner in wonderland and you won't even have a chance. And she will get back to her world just to die (__**such a waste**__)._

.

The other role holders really wanted to kill joker (not that they could, but they wanted to shot and stab him a lot). But because of the meeting rule they couldn´t even attack him.

.

_-What´s your stake in this Joker? You are not even part of the game, so what´s it to you_?- Grey somehow maintained his cool.

-_She defined It very well herself_- The jester said shrugging – _A foreigner is a commodity that works outside of the rules of this world. –_Black knew his counterpart was far from saying everything_.- Maybe I´m just wondering about my new worker?_

_-She works for you?! – _Gowland couldn´t believe it.

-_And for Peter and for Nightmare, and I want her to work for me too_ – Ace said- By the way, what did her note say?

-_She paid for her drinks and part of Joker´s_ – Then Gowland turned to Boris – _Boris… explain_ what´s up with the new foreigner.

.

Boris was still somewhat affected by all she had said, so he mostly repeated her words. It also served him to reconsider what he knew about her and about foreigners (_**And she had insulted Alice again**_).

Meanwhile Black was complaining at how cheap she was (_**In what does she spends her ***** money anyways?) **_and was getting uneasy by her plans. Even his counterpart felt uneasy and displeased. So Joker was about to be extra nasty.

.

_-So she knows she can go back whenever she wants… then why did she decided to stay until the vial fills up?_ – Gowland pondered aloud.

_-Because she doesn´t give a ***** damn about this world, idiot! If it weren´t because she is curious about the things she don´t know show would have ditched this ****** ***** of a world as soon as she found out she could ***** leave. She doesn´t even care about the **** game. Much less about any of the ******* players_– Black was bothered that she would leave just to die after learning so much _**(***** dumbass!**_ ) – _Surely the "love the ******* foreigner unconditionally" rule is already affecting everyone. So she will be able to crush your clock´s hopes nicely. To her nothing is worth living for except her own dead. _

_-Mr joker is angry? But he may be right, if she doesn´t care about her own life why would she care about anything else? _– Ace still though she was fun and he wouldn´t fret about it, he was gonna have fun anyways. He would tell Julius later. Maybe it would be better if he did kill her after all.

-_Maybe the one jealous is you joker. However slim we still have a chance. You aren´t even in the game- _If he couldn´t attack Joker the inverse was true too. And Grey wasn´t in the mood to tolerate him.

-_The fact that I´m not in the game does not mean I can´t play too. But why would I want anyways?_ – White was not falling for such petty provocation. But for the first time in his life Joker wondered if indeed he wasn´t in the game; As far as he knew it wasn´t a rule. He was far from loving anyone but himself, but he admitted that he felt at least some kinship towards the girl.

- _Mary… why don´t you hire her too_? – Boris wanted to know some things, but mostly he wanted to improve his chances and it would be easier if she worked at the amusement park. (_**think she is really messed up, but she does not have anything, for what she said... she already lost everything.**_)

-_Yes, next time I see her I will –_That was also Gowlands way of telling Boris to find her and bring her.

.

They were so avid at competing with each other that none addressed the reasons she was returning to her world, the war she had mentioned or her past at all.

.

* * *

**SOMEWHERE BELOW A BUILDING IN THE AMUSEMENT PARK**

.

.

_-There is no bed Rondo, but we can use this stuffed toys.- _Pierce said and pointed to big stuffed rabbit and some smaller plush key chains without the metal rings.

_-I guess it´s fine. But call me Aria. I took the name of Aria Hadron __Scherzi, at least while I am in this world._

_-Ok, Aria. But Rondo also sounded nice, it´s like a song right?_

_-Yeah, wanna hear a rondo?_

_-Yes, Chu!_

_._

_She had probably followed with it because she was tired and didn´t really want to think about anything until morning (or whatever time change it was) came. She took out her cell phone and looked for a song and played it (__**Author´s note: search youtube or whatever for "Mawaru Chikyuu Rondo" from the anime hetalia**__) ._

_._

_Mawaru mawaru te o totte_

_mawaru chikyuu Rondo_

_Ashi o fuminarashite Carolare….._

_._

Pierce was surprised at the small device that played music. The song was cute and catchy, and she hummed a bit in rhythm with it, she did look tired, and he hoped that maybe she had forgiven him for trying to kill her.

.

-Chu… -Pierce said softly.

.

He looked at her and she turned her head to look at him, a soft smile in her lips.

.

She looked at pierce while listening to that old song (_**He reminds me of Italy! From hetalia!**_) And her friki mode came back to life as freakish as it had been when she had entered university those years ago (_Just like Italy but more mousy; red head, clumsy, cute and a bit idiotic, he even have that "chu…" sound! Maybe he isn´t so bad for someone that does what he does for the hatters._ ). And maybe I should relax a bit more (_**go to sleep girl your brain is not right at the moment, don´t get close to anyone, it will only end bad**_).

She remembered how she had been lead singer for an anime/videogame music band back when she had entered university(_**I guess that as the last time I had some kind of social life… How long has it been?**_ ) . They had even managed to go to some anime conventions, but with time the workload from her studies and extra classes and activities took out all her time and at the last semesters she had been forced to take a permanent sabbatical year from that. She had left behind her (very few) friends and her started as a videogame designer but she was dragged into other issues. She couldn´t even remember well their faces anymore, she never paid much attention to such details. But she remembered all the fun she had and how much she "loved" those hobbies.

.

The song ended and so did the friki moment.

.

_-Let´s just go to sleep Pierce_ – She let herself fall on of the toy´s neck.

_-Aria…?_

_-mmhhh? Why don´t you want to met with anyone? I know they are scary but you should be fine (__**You´re probably in more danger by being near me**__)_

_-Because maybe I said a lot more than I intended today. And because even if it means nothing for me it might for everyone because I am more dangerous than anyone guesses and because I might like this place a bit. _

_-Aria?... Can we listen to more of your songs? _

_-Yes, we can even see some series. I just want to sleep right now._

_-Please...- The mouse guy said with big puppy eyes._

_-Fine... but just a few._

_._

She took out her small proyector and aimed it at a piece of white cardboard that served them as a screen. She connected her gadgets to one of her hard drives and started the movie night to Pierce´s amazement. Soon after she was asleep while Pierce watched too much anime.

.

The next day Pierce took her to the hearts castle and she met with the prime minister to finish more work, specially related to the ball and she stated she wasn´t attending. After that she disappeared. No role holder could find her. However, somewhere else a small boss dubbed "Berceuse" was training his men and women while researching and planning.

.

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* * *

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Finally the day of the ballroom dance event at Heart´s castle was due.

.

_-Dammit! Seems that I´ll have to go after all! AND I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!_ _ARGGHHH! MY HAIR IS A MESS!_ – Aria complained.

-_Biggs! Go get the girls, the boss needs a makeover! _– Wedge screamed so loud that all the people in the building had probably heard.

-_Right away!_ – Biggs went out screaming even more loudly just in case someone hadn´t heard.

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* * *

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**Somehow this and last chapter involved a lot more emotion than what I had though originally. We know more about her past, what´s happening in the real world and the role holders are starting (if they aren´t already) to be affected by the love for the foreigner rule. I also managed a small light scene with Pierce (and show how much of an otaku she was) ****(will he become an otaku? has Aria corrupted the poor mouse? XD )****(If you are wondering she DID cosplay too). Yes, she had got a somewhat normal life in the past and now she acknowledges that she just might like wonderland.**

**.**

**TELL ME IF YOU´D LIKE A FLUFF SCENE WITH SOMEONE :) **

**.**

**Next chapter we´ll see the ball, and believe me, It will be interesting (maybe it will be a 2 chapter thing). Some of the things that will happen:**

**-Aria will finally meet Alice (and Blood)**

**-There will be a superclue about which her home/Block is (or was?)**

**-Aria will not be using her suit. (and maybe she´ll need it)  
**

**-We´ll learn who that other mysterious group that attacked the hatters and the lullaby was**

**-Some info regarding wonderland will be present.**

**.**

**SO REVIEW. The more reviews the faster I update. And tell me if you liked this 2 chapters or not (and why) and if her character is a bit clearer now. **


	20. Chapter 20

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CHAPTER 20

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* * *

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**ARIA´S POV**

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_-Auch! Don´t pull my hair so hard!_

_-Sorry boss, but your hair is quite tangled._

_._

I really didn´t want to go to the ball, no matter if Vivaldi got angry. I´m not a social person and events of that kind always were a bore for me when I had to attend them back when I was a cultural youth ambassador. They were always so fake and I had to act very fake too (_**I hate politics, always have and always will**_). Well, not this time, I´m going only because I won`t risk my men (or women in this case) getting killed or be tracked back to me while meeting with that mysterious faction at the ball. They had changed the meeting point in the last moment to the dance floor of the ball.** _ **

If I send someone else my spy would get killed, but they won´t dare attacking a foreigner. They want the piece of mirror that was in the suitcase, but for what? Or rather…. why?

.

_-It´s because we were training in team tactics, and it´s not even that long! _(_**I had been training my personnel into S.W.A.T. style tactics and other kind of business strategies, I also set up things to fund other businesses and projects. Somehow all the lullaby have advanced very fast. Biggs´s and Wedge´s progress is insane. I wonder how much they´ve been training…**_). _Auch! How could it tangled so much?! GRRR! Just help me to brush it. Have you find a dress or suit for me yet? What about the make up!?_

_-Don´t worry boss, everything´s ready except for jewelry, but we got you a bunch so you can chose. – (__**Even if they have no eyes they still use a shades… I need liner!)**_

_-Fine, and get 2 vehicles ready. One at the exchanging post in the end of the territory and the other here. I won´t risk anyone following. Better yet, have 3._

_-Ready boss! Now we´ll leave you to change. But please remember that you are already a bit late._

_-Thanks. WAIT! Do we have any small weapon that I can conceal?!  
_

_-mmmhhh... Boss... all those necklaces are guns._

_-Huh?_

_-Oh, let me show you how to transform them._

_._

She took a necklace and with a flip of her wrist_ i_t transformed into a revolver.

_._

_-WHAT!? HOW THE ****** HELL DID IT DO THAT! THIS IS AWESOME! HOW DOES IT WORK? _

_._

_-BOSS! That can wait! You are already late as it is! _

_-But it must have so much SCIENCE!_

.

I agreed to go (Actually Biggs and Wedge dragged me to the vehicle and threw me inside) after I was promised they would take me to the blacksmith that made those things later. I guess it had been a good thing or I would have stayed to test the things. (_**I´m so gonna have a field trip with this!**_) ***¬***

.

-_Uff! I´m almost ready, I just need some earrings…. (__**I know!**__ )-_I opened up a case and took out the earrings that had been along the mirror shard in that suitcase, the ones that were a pair of a happy and a scowling face. Now I´m ready to go, and better hurry, I´m already late. (_**They feel a bit weird, but I haven´t wear earrings in a while, maybe it´s because of the weight…)**_

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.END POV

* * *

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.

In another part of wonderland… at the prison to be more exact, Joker was not exactly in a good mood. He had slaughtered all the prisoners of a cell block and there weren´t that many left that were worth his time or attention. He had even gone out on extra raids to capture more, but he knew he had done so just to know where the hell his runaway new employee had disappeared to, and knowing that he had gone out of his way for that girl put him in a worse mood.

After the karaoke night (thanks wonderland he hadn´t need to sing) she had been missing, just like when she had arrived in wonderland. Of course he hadn´t ask any other role holder but he had his own spies and they hadn´t seen anything, he had even tortured one that dared to say that maybe she had chosen a place to stay and didn´t want to be found.

Both of himself had been restless and impatient. She hadn´t come. At some point he even considered that maybe she was playing the game with the other role holders and had discarded him because he wasn't part of the game (something that he wasn´t so sure anymore). But she hadn´t appear in the other territories either. To his utter dismay he admitted that maybe they´ve been just a little bit worried. Both reasoned that it had been because she still needed to work at the prison to get even with them for working only at the circus last time (even if it had been White´s fault).

Both Joker were patrolling a corridor in the prison when a they felt a sudden and unusual spark on their clocks. They stopped to look at each other.

.

_-What the hell was that?_

_-I don´t know but I think we should attend the party after all._

_-The ***** ball? _

_-It´s our best bet. If something is happening it is probably there. If it´s not, at least we´ll make things very uncomfortable for everyone there. These prisoners are not fun anymore._

_-You tortured way more than usual, you aren´t satisfied yet?_

_-Nha._

_-Fine, lets go._

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* * *

**ALICE´S POV**

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After the incident during the last event I really hadn´t left the mansion. Blood has been really possessive too and has barely let me leave his side. He has also been more rough and demanding. So I´m glad that this event came, at least I´ll be able to get a little rest from Blood and talk to the other guys. I don´t think there will be any dangers, Vivaldi and Peter probably doubled the security and everyone is here, even Joker (I was glad that they hadn´t come, The party had already started a while ago when his entrance was announced, I had actually dropped my cup of wine when they arrived).

I also want to meet the new foreigner, I wonder why she hadn´t go to the hatter´s mansion to meet me.I heard the twins saying something about a club for slacking with their new big sister and Elliot said he saw her but really didn´t spoke to her. He had looked really down when mentioning her. Blood doesn´t even want to hear about it.

Maybe she already chose someone.

.

I greeted everyone. It was already halfway of the party and I was talking to Vivaldi when a song ended and the herald announced another guest that arrived late.

.

-_Now presenting lady "Aria Hadron __Scherzi", Foreigner!_

_._

_I (__**and probably everyone**__) turned to look at the stairs. There stood the other foreigner, and was heading towards Vivaldi and me. _

_Vivaldi looked really surprised, her cheeks were a bit reddened and she looked the new foreigner up and down._

_._

_-Is something the matter Vivaldi?_

_-It´s just that Aria´s attire is quite different from what she normally wears. We hadn´t expect her to come either, she had declined a while ago. –__ Vivaldi had not liked her invitation being refused; I'd be scare to refuse an invitation from her._

_-So she is the new foreigner… __-I was surprised, she was very different from what I expected, I had expected someone more like me. She is a few years older than me and more physically developed._

_-You haven't met her yet?_

_-No, I haven't got out of the mansion since the last ball and she has not come to the hatter's territory. _

_. _

_We stop talking to greet the other foreigner when she arrived. Her eyes were olive green and her hair had different shades of blonde, it was stylishly hold back by two braids, each at the sides of her head above her ears that ended up in a side fancy bum tied with another braid surrounding it´s base and holding itself with a pair of sticks. She was wearing fishnet tights and lace long gloves. Her black dress was mid-thigh length, sleeveless and with lace closing on her neck; the lower part of the skirt was flowy and had a really high cut aperture. If I compared it to my long dress it was almost scandalous. (__**Author´s note: you can look in Google for images of "Short High Neck Lace Dress" or "tango dance" to get a better idea, but imagine it as whatever you want**__)._

_._

_-__Good night Vivaldi, I apologize for my late arrival. And I guess this lady is Alice, right?_

_-__Yes, She is Alice Lidell, she arrived in the country of hearts a little more in what you call a "year" ago__.-Vivaldi did the introductions – __Alice, this is _Aria Hadron _Scherzi, she arrived a couple of "months" ago. -Vivaldi turned to greet her and I noticed that they were friends already - We are very pleased that you came.  
_

_-I am happy to see you too Vivaldi._

_– __She turned to greet me – __People speak of you constantly, yet I haven´t got the opportunity to meet you till now. Good be this fateful encounter, please call me Aria.__ – She extended her hand to me and offered a polite smile. But there was something strange with that smile, it looked strange, not forced, not as if she was trying to act or anything, but I felt it fake.  
_

_._

_Just then I noticed her earrings and took a step back moving my hand to my chest in a first. I could hear the silence deepening and seconds after rumors and murmuring filled the silence that I had created with my action. Everyone had been watching us! But I couldn´t have helped it. Her earrings were like the masks in Joker´s belt!No, I´m sure they are exactly like them.  
_

_._

_-I… I´m sorry!-__ I tried to rectify my action but I knew it was already too late – It´s just that …_

_-Is something not right with your expectations? I´m afraid I can´t do anything about it__.__– _I slowly offered my hand but now it was she whom retracted her hand._ – __However there are some very simple questions I want to ask you as a foreigner. I will not importunate you with anything else.  
_

_-__And I´m sure you can ask them in a more enjoyable atmosphere when you visit me for a tea party. Miss Aria was it? I am Blood Dupre, head of the hatter´s territory. Most charmed to meet you__. –Blood had appeared out of nowhere. He took her hand and kissed it´s back. _

_-I´ve also heard some things about you mister Dupre. I´ll be charmed to accept your invitation. Now if you excuse me… - _She nodded to Vivaldi and looked at me once more before going to tell something to the orchestra. Music started playing again and a faceless asked her to dance (**_Oh,no, that man is dead…_**)

.

.

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

.

.

So that is Alice. What a rude girl. She had been surprised and… afraid? Why? Well, anyways it´s obvious that I´ll have to speak with her in an environment that his boyfriend controls. How tricky.

_**(Who cares ! I came here for a reason)**_

The lullaby arranged that our contacts would met at the ball, we set the password as and contact as a girl who upon arrival would go and ask the band for a specific song of a rhythm set before hand (Of course it was I who choose the song"). Then their contact would ask the girl a question, she would reply by asking for another 2 more specific songs and they would dance the customary 3 songs a man is allowed by protocol before other man can dance with the girl.

I got up to the band (which was the one from one of my bars) and asked them to play the tango "La cumparsita". A man that was nearby immediately came to me.

.

-Do…You… Don´t you think that such rhythm is flirty for a ballroom dance miss? – The man gulped.

-Maybe so, but I will ask for another two more – I winked at him and turned to the band again – Can you also play "El choclo" and "Por una cabeza" afterwards, please.

-May I dance with you miss? – The man asked while taking my hand. For all response I followed him to the dance floor that was very empty because no one from this world knew the song or rhythm.

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END POV

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(**IMPORTANT AUTHOR´S NOTE: Please open youtube and search for those tangos, they are probably the most well known tangos in the world (for "por una cabeza" tango I recommend you the "John Williams/Carlos Gardel - Tango Por una Cabeza" version ). **

**I Also highly suggest you see some videos of tango exhibitions, I liked these, just copy the titles and paste them in youtube´s search tab : "MUNDIAL DE TANGO 2011 FINALISTAS ESCENARIO JOHN ERBAN Y CLARISSA SANCHEZ", "Mundial de Tango Extraordinary Couple " and "Sebastian Arce & Mariana Montes -Tango nuevo - Ballando con le stelle 2012"**)

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.

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* * *

**JULIUS POV**

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Ace had dragged me to the ballroom. I almost preferred to get lost in the woods rather than coming here but I had no choice, I must attend too.

Besides, Nightmare and Grey used the door to get to hearts and attend and as soon as we arrived at the castle everyone went their separate ways. I knew everyone was here because they hoped to see Aria at the ball, even when she clearly said that she wasn´t going. However their worry was understandable up to some point. She had disappeared again, and despite her obvious love for money she hadn´t appeared for work anywhere.

.

-_I don´t know if she would like this event or not_ – Ace said while passing me a cup with some alcoholic beverage.- _But how can we play with her is she´s not here?. _

Ace had told me what happened at the karaoke bar. It didn´t matter much, if she wanted to go she was free to do so, in any case I had no change. I don´t want to play the game and see someone go away again.

.

-_Now presenting lady "Aria Hadron __Scherzi", Foreigner!_

.

Ace and I turned to the entry staircase. I couldn´t believe my eyes.

.

_-WOW! Huba, huba! __**X3 **_

_-Is that really her?!_ – I couldn´t believe it. She actually looked like a woman!

.

I remembered that episode with her half naked in Alice´s old room.

.

-Ha,ha. Julius your face is red and your mouth is open **XD **.

-Shut up idiot!

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END POV

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

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.

_-Are you really the lullaby's contact miss?!_

_-Indeed I am. I came because the head of the lullaby thought that it was a good idea to send the foreigner because you wouldn´t dare kill me, or something like that_. – Of course I didn´t say that the head of the lullaby is me.

_-A pleasure miss. It´s even better that you are the contact. We´ve been looking for you._

_-Eh? Why? I tough your group wanted only a piece of glass or something that Berceuse knows where to get._

_-It is better that you are here. That way we can tell you directly miss. We are the remaining survivors of the country of Diamond._

_._

END POV

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* * *

**NIGHTMARE´S POV**

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.

The moment the herald announced Aria´s arrival I was invaded by all the nearby thoughts. I had to close many because of how inappropriate or bothersome they were. Many women were either admiring or loathing her attire and there were men who wanted to see her without the dress,many would be getting some nightmares very soon, I´d make sure that.

For the role holders I can say that in general we could hardly recognize her at all, if it weren´t for her eyes it would had been hard. I think Julius summed very nice with the "She actually looked like a woman!" and Ace´s "And a hot one". And we all didn´t have to ask ourselves anymore, it was obvious that the rule of "love the foreigner" was active. We were all falling for her, even if only lightly.

.

_-Well she is fine_- Grey shielded his toughs, but after the initial shock he sighted with relief.

_-She seems to be alright, but we can ask her what happened after she left you all at the bar and about the other things… -_ Grey had told me all she said that night, he even let me see it in a dream and I was really worried and baffled. There was much I needed to speak with her.

_-Why did Alice did that?-_ Alice had just refused to greet the new foreigner and Blood had appeared right there.

_-I don´t know, they are too far for me to read their toughs._

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END POV

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

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_-Our boss was the "Dodo", Jericho Bermuda. He was disappearing because very little of his own essence remained and only in the country of Diamond. So he took upon various roles to get the power from them and keep himself alive as much as preventing others from taking his role. But it somehow destabilized the country and the foreigner that was supposed to appear in Diamond ended up somewhere else._

_-(__**What does a foreigner has to do with anything?)**_

_-Then, we think that the energy or the roles our boss was using was related to how the countries connect in wonderland, and Diamond was cut off from Hearts and Clover. _

_-So you ended up trapped and isolated from the rest of wonderland. _

_-We don´t know what happened then, but Diamond got stuck in a point of time while the rest of wonderland went ahead. It was certain death for everyone, the dodo had doomed everyone in Diamond to die in the same way he was supposed to die. In the end he couldn´t even prevent his own dead._

_-Then how are you here? What happened to the other roleholders remaining there?  
_

_-We think that the essence and power of those role holders fled to their other selves at hearts and for us...the boss owned a mirror that allows you to be taken to where your heart desires. In the end, when everything was collapsing or frozen in time permanently he called out everyone remaining, even from the other territories, and wished to send us to the other two countries. We used the mirror to cross and then it shattered. One shard feel to this side of the mirror. The shard of mirror the "lullaby" has is that shard, and we think that we can reach Diamond with it and we also need the help of a foreigner._

_-Hold down. I´ll assume that the mirror crossing thing is real for a moment. But how can you reach Diamond and what does a foreigner has to do with anything? How do you even know that the piece of mirror the lullaby has is the one you´re looking for?_

_._

END POV

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* * *

**JOKER´S POV**

_._

_I arrived fast enough by using the connecting elevator that we use only for territory leaders negotiations. Even so I managed to be fashionable late, but not as fashionably late as Aria. We had been almost ready to leave when her entrance was announced. And what a view we had (******** attention ******* **grabber!**)._

_._

-_Now presenting lady "Aria Hadron __Scherzi", Foreigner!_

_._

_-Who the ***** is that? Where is that bitch!?_

_-I think that´s our runaway employee… There aren´t many girls with eyes in wonderland after all._

_-Nha,really… Wait a….. Fucking ***** ***** it is she!_

_._

She did came and she did look… nice enough in that small pretty dress. Carrying all that stuff all the time and running away like a ***** damn coward while leaving her companions behind sure had helped her figure. (_**I´m still mad at her.**_)...

_._

_-Oh Alice, That was incredibly rude and inappropriate. To refuse a friendly presentation salute. And in front of everyone._

_-Yeah, but everyone saw how ******* pompous is that ******** slut. Bet you she is angry because she´s not the only toy here anymore. _

_-And not the most desirable one. Just see the faces of the other role holders._

_-And there goes the hatter to the rescue of his doll._

_-Whatever, now we´ll be able to drag that ***** slacker to work for us._

_-But not before … Oh? She´s asking the orchestra for something?_

_-That ****** faceless is death! How dare such a ********* scum steal her ****** first ***** dance in her first event!?_

_-What kind of music is that?_

_._

_._

END POV

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

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_-You just confirmed it for us. The earrings you are wearing were something that the dodo got a hold on and are related to the country of Spades somehow. He believed that if he understood how Spades had been lost he could prevent Diamond and himself from disappearing._

_-And how does that involves a foreigner?_

_-Miss…. please ask yourself this: Why everyone loves foreigners so much? Why the game of hearts exists? Why the rules are made to protect foreigners and their freedom of choice as much as possible? Why foreigners are female mostly and role holders are mostly males? Why fool´s season comes faster when a foreigner arrives and why the foreigner´s visits to various territories are limited during that time? Why wonderland rarely allows foreigners to come but does not want them to leave even when they can at their own will? In a way… wonderland revolves around the foreigners._

-_You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. Tell me more_.- I smiled in what anyone else´s words could be described as "seductively".

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* * *

.

It is true, I´ve been so engrossed in answering the questions about wonderland and many of its miseries that I failed to see a central piece in the puzzle, probably the piece that will let me unravel this world. ME. I am that piece, or rather the foreigner is.

How can there be no indications in my world about wonderland? or if they are what and where? and I am not the only piece here, there is also Alice. More than one foreigner is extremely rare, why? She´s been here for around a year. But how did she arrived (_**and**_** survived**) here? I remember hearing someone brought her here, how? and why? ... but it shouldn´t be right, the place where the hole in the ground is had been isolated, that´s why partly why I choose to go that way, she shouldn´t have been anywhere near there... could it be that there are multiple entrances to wonderland? or is it something else?

What does it all means? I´m starting to get a bad feeling regarding this, as if I won´t like the answer... but that is irrational, I can´t feel... so why?

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END POV

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* * *

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**She looks like a woman XD but she is not exactly happy about it, she probably feels really vulnerable, or maybe not?  
**

**And i think all the important questions about wonderlnad have been asked by now. We´ll see if Aria can answer them.**

**WHAT DO YOU THINK? DOES ANYONE HAS AN IDEA OF WHERE THIS IS GOING ? ;)  
**

**OH yeah, and the tango is actually relevant to the story****.**

**REVIEW PLEASE (I´ll wait for ten or so reviews before updating) ;)**


	21. Chapter 21

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* * *

**GOWLAND´S POV**

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He had hoped to see Aria at the event, but he had almost given up when she wasn´t there. Even Joker had appeared. I suspected it was because Aria had disappeared again and they hadn´t seen her either (which calmed some of my fears). When she appeared at half of the event I got happy, I wanted to talk to her and hire her at the amusement park, I already had a few things in my mind already.

.

-She looks very different from Alice right?

.

Gowland and Boris observed the two foreigners. Alice looked very pretty in her long soft pink gown (_**surely provided by Blood**_), it accentuated her delicate features and gave a slightly cheerful and juvenile appearance. Aria on the other hand had a Black short dress that accentuated her figure and made her look elegant but bold and somewhat provocative (_**in a GOOD way**_). Alice looked nice for a tranquil stroll in the gardens or maybe a waltz, and Aria looked ready to party. Both were pretty, but while Alice looked like a porcelain doll, Aria looked more like a fashion figure (_**her normal looks would be of an action figure then**_?). But in truth the two were as delicate as toys in this world.

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-_Why did Alice did that!?_- Boris looked confused. He suspected that perhaps the two foreigner weren´t going to be the best of buddies as everyone has tough. Aria leaved Alice, Blood and Vivaldi and very soon a faceless took her to the dance floor.

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-_What kind of dance is that?_ – I´ve never seen something like it.

-_WOW! I didn´t even know Aria could dance!-_Boris was surprised too. (_**What do we know about her really?**_)

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END POV

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* * *

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The dancing pair was the center of all the attention, one foreigner and one faceless, not a role holder. And people from wonderland would not forget that anytime soon.

They were talking while dancing but no one pay attention to that, everyone was too busy looking at the new rhythm and graceful yet sexy moves that the new foreigner was doing. Arches with her legs and feet, her knee occasionally rubbing the man´s leg and moving up along it or going in between his legs while she pressed herself to his chest. His hand running across her back or hers along his chest. Hos hand on her waist moving her to let her turn her hips in rounds. The personal contact between the two was practically intimate; the twists and pulls, his hands holding her from falling in a graceful fall and her leg gripping him by his waist and providing a hold for her body fitting over his.

Women would have liked to be held like that or move like her and men would have like to hold a foreigner or a woman in that way.

Later on everyone would know that such music and dance was called "tango". One of the rhythms of the block countries the foreigner had come from and that she had partly helped organized the ball. What nobody would know was that she had planned it to be a show to draw clients to the "lullaby´s" night clubs in order to gain more money an sink the competition.

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

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_-You dance quite well-(__**I´m happy to not be so rusty after all**__)._

_-Thank you. I was chosen to come tonight as contact because I was the one who managed to learn the moves fast enough. __Why did the lullaby chose this … err… contact form?_

_-Actually it was a diversion, while everyone was looking at the dancing pair the real contacts would get a bit away and speak or negotiate. Berceuse is quite paranoid and there is at least one person that can read minds present, not to mention all the ears. _

_-I see… I admit this rhythm was hard, but one of the lullabies bars started playing and teaching it. __So I suspect Berceuse set it up for us. _

_-Maybe so.- __**(I totally did**__) - I will think about what you said. But what will you offer Berceuse for that piece of mirror? Regarding the issues about Diamond… I will meet you guys on another location, seek me in a few days in the place where you learned to dance this rhythm, I will be there giving dancing lessons or something as another part time job.(**I set that up too, more money for me and my clubs**)  
_

_-Miss… you gave me the honor of dancing with you. Some faceless can´t even see a foreigner in the rare occasions when one appears in wonderland, rarely even speak to one, much less be allowed such contact. You have talked and danced with me and I am very grateful for this. I know I will not live for long once this ball ends. I, a mere faceless dared to steal the foreigner from the grasp of the role holders and even took your first dance. _

_-You didn´t steal or took anything, I am the one who gave it to you._ – And it was true. I knew he would die soon, but he had served his purpose and the least I could do was thank him -_I know you have more people here so tell them my message. Also… It´s been nice. I had fun, thank you for the dance._

_-Thanks to you miss Aria. _– The faceless smiled happily. He knew his time was almost up and that he would die tonight. Either by the role holders, other faceless, his own organization or even by his own hand, but he came here for a reason and now I know what is their real goal. – Tell Berceuse that we_ are willing to pay a nice price in cash for it._

_-Cash is not a problem for Berceuse, but perhaps some properties in various territories or a few businesses would be of interest…_

_-Just name them. With that shard and your help we might be able to reach Diamond before Hearts and Clover start destabilizing too._

.

* * *

The music stopped. He kissed my hand and we walked away never to see each other again _**(I´m just to use to these sorts of goodbyes ...)**_.

I went to the nearest table to get myself a drink but I got intercepted by a gun pointed at my face.

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_-What did you said to Alice!- The prime minister was not so happy to see me._

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END POV

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* * *

**ELLIOT´S POV**

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I´ve been worried about the new foreigner. I don´t know what happened the day we meet her, maybe I accidentally shoot her or one of the bullets the lizard deflected hit her. She had been fine and then she was half dead. It might have been my fault! She was just defending those kids (_**they probably tricked her or something, but still…**_). And quite frankly I can´t make anything out of her, she looked and acted so different from Alice that I can´t compare.

I told Blood what had happened but he didn´t care about it. In fact he told me that I should have shot her! (_**Of course, he already has Alice! So why would he care. :( **_) .

I have not gathered much on her except that it took a while before anyone found her and that she has been working in clover and hearts (_**and a really nasty, impossible and stupid rumor about her being involved with Joker and even wearing his uniform**_). So I had been looking forward to an event to see her and apologize properly.

It had been almost half of the party, everything was boring but everyone was present, even Joker, which put us on edge. We couldn´t let him or anyone get near Alice.

I was with Blood when she arrived. Have the herald not announced the new foreigner I wouldn´t have recognized her (**_except because she has eyes of course_**) , she had gone straight to greet Alice and the queen. She looked very nice an moved with confidence. When Alice took a step back after she offered her hand Blood had gone straight to see what was wrong and I stayed where I was just in case some treat came from somewhere else. Blood presented himself but I guess the damage was done already, Everyone was whispering about Alice´s faulty offense (we´ll get rid of them later), but the new foreigner went away as if nothing has happened.

She told something to the band and, Boy was it a surprise! Never in my life had I someone moving like that. ( _**Does Alice know how to dance like that too?**_) OoO

As soon as the faceless left her she went to a table, I saw the prime minister going her way with hi pistol ready in his hand and point it at her.

.

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END POV

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

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I can´t leave yet, it would be too suspicious if I just leave the party without even greeting anyone. Besides, after what that man told me I guess I do need to ask the role holders about Alice to see what they know about foreigners.

I spotted Ace and Julius, but before going to greet them I went to take a drink from a near table. But instead of a martini I found a gun barrel right in front of my face.

.

_-What did you said to Alice!? If you threatened her… - _The prime minister was not so happy to see me (_**It´s mutual!).**_

_._

This is not a good situation, but even if I don´t have my armor suit but in no way am I defenseless, I am carrying enough nerv gas and Zyklon B cyanide pellets to kill most everyone in my way (_**and be convinced for crimes against humanity**_) if I need to (_**I´m such a horrible person... but I´ll do what I need**_), and there´s a reason why my gloves are somewhat thick, not to mention that I still have my small neural implantat the base of my skull to sycnh with close devises (_**smart of me to take on the spare parts lying around when I took my**_** suit**), it may be of low potense and cant send waves no further than my lenses or a wrist watch or anything farther than 1 meter from me, but its still useful despite how much it stings, and it is as thin as a phone signal booster so it´s practically imperceptible it was easy to put under my skin and hid it easily with that tatoo form, lucky that my braid is always covering it and acting as an antenna thanks to the metal string I have weaved into it.

Still I must be careful (_**My defense is really low without armor, my dexterity improved a lot but still any shot will kill me**_). I don´t think he will violate the "no attacking" during an event, but because it´s something regarding his sick obsession I´m not so sure…

I can´t outrun a bullet, much less stop it like the role holders do. For all I know him, he is bluffing. In any case my only change to get with my reputation and health intact is to disarm him, but his reactions surely are faster than mine _**(How do role holders do that? It´s inhuman!)**__ , If I can just distract him a bit…_ (_**It´s like that karaoke night**_**! **_**I just need to freak him out..), (But what can I do to… oh… not nice or dignifying but …. what the hell! he deserves whatever comes his way.)**_

_**.**_

_**-**__What makes you think I said anything to her? She was the rude one._

-_My dear Alice can´t be rude. She is perfect! You must have told her something to scare her. Don´t think I haven´t noticed your "accessories"_ were you hired for that purpose? to come here? –He said taking a step forward; the gun now was just a few centimeters from my face ( _**The ****** you´re talking about?**_ _**Now you´re angering me bunny… and you won´t like me angry**_).

-_What? I don´t care about you criticizing my fashion style. But someone perfect, HA_! _How is that? Anything perfect is imperfect because it can´t be improved further. Tell me… Why or How is she then perfect?-_ I smirked. He looked taken aback a bit clearly not knowing what to respond, or by the fact that I responded without fear, but he was not distracted enough yet, but it was working, he was losing his temper.

-_She is more perfect than you_ – How stupid. Such statements anger me,He doesn´t know anything about me, probably not so much about her either, but this is my chance. I don´t care about that girl, better for me that everyone concentrates on her and not on me, but it´s very bothersome that people here compare me constantly to her and that that they lose their rational capacities so easily over a person_** (It is pathetic and irrational!)**_.

-_Is that so…? But then you´re saying that I´m still somewhat puurrrrfect? -_ I purred and licked my lips_- And because I´m not completely perfect I can still improve and get even better... unlike her - _I was gonna just leave Peter here and walk away, but I think I´ll teach him a lesson. I do not need my suit to win here. (_**I think I know what will freak him out! I saw it in a movie a long time ago, it might work on him, at least I´ll get a funny reaction out of him in front of everyone. Dear Peter you are about to be owned!)  
**_

_**.**_

_**END POV**_

* * *

_._

**_ACE´S POV_**

_._

I was with Julius when Aria arrived. She acted very proper and formal and went straight to say hello to Vivaldi and Alice, I saw how Alice refused her handshake and wondered why but considered that it would get a funny reaction from Aria, but she kept this very diplomatically yet manged to state clearly that she wasnt accepting Alice either (_**that was disapointing**_).

That could get interesting, I tough they would be all buddy buddy inmediately,they two are foreigners after all. But seeing the two together is quite the contrast, like day and night, Alice looks cute and Aria looks hot, Alice would be someone to hold, Aria is something you´d like to fuck.

.

-_ She looks good, makes the game more appealing, right?_

_**- **mmhhh... you said she isn´t playing the game. - _Julius said;he seems uncomfortable.

-_But WE are, and that is what matters. I bet you want to go and rip that faceless in pieces for touching her like that and then take her somewhere else and ravish her, without her armor her curves do show nicely - _Julius turned to see me with disgust (**_I was right, he did want to do just that ) _**) - _She looks fine in that dress, but she probably looks better without it. **:D**_

_-Don´t be an idiot - _However he did turn to look at her and wasn´t taking his eyes away (**_You´re cute when you blush Julius!_** ), maybe I should be jealous, she´s taking all of Julius attention,hmm... maybe I can share him. But then I wouldn´t want her sharing herself with others, what a dilemma.

-_Why don´t we both go and get her later to find that out_? _You can be on the middle again or not, I don´t mind_ - I whispered in his ear (_**OH, Julius blushed even more! XD** _)- _I promised her that I would her her strip you..._

.

Julius turned his face fast to look at me , and since we were so close it was almost a kiss.

.

-_ha,ha, Julius, I know you´re anxious, but I´ll have to wait. Vivaldi ordered me to go and patrol if Aria appeared because she heard that someone was targeting the outsider. -_ I blew slightly in his ear and left him there to entertain the idea.

_._

* * *

_._

**_ARIA´S POV_**

_._

I widely opened my mouth to let my tongue out, and licked the point of the gun´s barrel and gave it a light peek kiss; opening my mouth, I let my tongue slip over the gun´s entrance and twist inside it while moving my head up a bit. Then I caressed the sides of the gun and let the tip of my tongue enter the orifice of the gun´s mouth again. All the time I was looking him straight in the eyes.

.

-_**Wu ..What are you doing?! –**_ He was freaked out already and his face was completely red (_**don´t know if by anger or something else**_ ),his hand shacked a bit (_**Is he virgin or something**_?), but I needed to put my arm near his elbow for the disabling move to work, so I lightly moaned. (W_**as that someone spitting their drinks in the background?**_)

.

I opened my mouth and engulfed the pistol´s end with my lips. I moved forward till my mouth was almost touching his fingers at the trigger while I moved my arm forward (_**almost there… I´ll disarm you bunny)**_ , to distract him I sucked on the gun hard enough that it was noticeable in my cheeks, then I moved my head backwards, separating my lips from the metal piece with an audible "pop" sound (I heard some glass crash but I didn´t pay attention) (**NOW!).**

I slipped my hand at the interior part of his arm and then twisted it to trap his own arm and force him to drop his gun. I managed to see him moving his other arm so I twisted his body almost breaking his and my arm in the process to put myself at his back, taking the momentum to use my leg, swinging to land a hit to make him fall. I trapped his hands at his back with one hand and one knee while holding both of his (_**soft and… cute?)**_ bunny ears with my other hand and kept him in place by pressing with all my weight (_**I love the principles of applied pressure in very small areas!**_). He didn´t even move. (**authors note: Peter enters in a sort of trance when someone holds him by his ears**)

.

-_You just lost like 20 respect points Sir Peter and you didn´t even had many to begin with. Please, stop assuming everything and get your facts first. If you have doubts regarding Alice go and ask her personally. If you have any doubts regarding me then ask me nicely and we can speak it like two civilized adults. Such childish behavior and sick obsession might be part of why she is not with you right now. What do you know about her? What does she knows about you? Quite frankly I don´t care. But I don´t like people threatening to kill me when I have more important matters to worry about than a girl I don´t even know that just happens to be another foreigner;and clearly she doesn´t care either. In any case that would be a foreigner matter and thus non foreigners should not interfere, UNDERSTAND? – _I said and put more force on my grip on his ears and pulled on them enough for it to be slightly painful _- I´ll see you at work later, but right now leave me alone. Meanwhile think why she is so perfect. If you can even find a logical answer to that… and stop being so ******** bothersome. _

I released him and jumped to the side, he quickly got up and his face was incredible red (_**fuck! He´s very angry**_), but I can´t run away or stop the charade of being mighty. I looked down on him with a bit of visible despise and started walking away. I heard him take out another gun but I simple continue walking away.I was calculating divergent routes when I heard their voices.

.

-_You heard her cowardly bunny. _

_-Leave Big sis alone._

_._

I turned around, the bloody twins were there with their axes ready (they were adults) and between me and the angry bunny.

I couldn´t help but be content. I wanted to know about them (_**or more exactly their jump age ability**_) , (_**it´s also nice that they are putting themselves as shield meat for me**_).

.

_-Oh, it´s you! How you´ve been my fellow slackers! :)_

_-Hey sis!_

_-We looked for you but we haven´t find you._

_-Oh, I´ve been super slacking. – _Well, at least I´ve been slacking at working for the role holders.

_-Really?_

_-Yep, I haven´t gone to work for any territory in many time changes ;)_

_-ha,ha _

_._

We started chatting a bit, ignoring completely the fuming minister.

_._

_-Don´t even think about it prime minister – _The hatter´s own rabbit (_**due to the morphological differences in the ears with Peter I´d say he is a hare)**_ had appeared and was pointing his gun to Peter, who only scowled and left (_**I bet I put a lot of things in his mind**_ ).

.

_-Leave now Elliot, you bothersome rabbit!_

_-Yeah, we came to talk to sis first!_

_-But I don´t think he is a rabbit, I think he is a hare.- _I helpfully pointed out

-Huh?- Elliot put of his gun and looked at me.

-But sis! He´s interrupting us.

_-No, he is not. In fact it is better that he is here; now I should be able to properly introduce myself… But since I know you already know at least my name I won't bother. In any case call me Aria. Should I address you by your names?_

_._

They blinked. The twins laughed and Elliot smiled.

.

_-Nice to meet you Aria, I´m Elliot March. I hope our first meeting did not leave a bad impression. - _I noticed he looked a my earrings but he didn´t comment on them._  
_

_-No worse than any other introduction from people here._

_-Hey sis, why don´t you come to play with us some time? It´ll be fun, right Dee? **:)** _

_-Of course Dum! We can play with the throwing knives! Or hacking and slashing! **:)**_

_-Definitely not! She can get hurt! _

_-Why or how would I get hurt? The worst that can happen is that I suck. I don´t even know how to throw knives properly._

_-We can teach you sis! –_Both said in unison

_-OK…. I think I´ll take on your offer, however I don´t know when I´ll actually go to the mansion._

_-What!- _Elliot was surprised that I accepted their offer._  
_

_-Yeah, as I said, I´ve kind of been slacking way too much – _I said and rubbed the back of my neck. – And Peter is sure going to be really grumpy next time I come to work **¬_¬ 0**

_-You work here in the castle? For Peter White? – _Elliot asked surprised.- _And you´re coming back after that!?_

_-Yeah, he may be an insufferable rodent but he does pay quite well._

.

We chat a little, Elliot was nice (_**although he kinda gulped every time I looked at his ears**_) and the twins changed age like tree times when I asked them about it, it seemed like a game to them or a cool trick they were showing a new friend.

We spoke a little more but at some point they said goodbye because Blood had called them. It seemed that he had fulfilled the attending rule and was leaving. I didn´t even bothered to see them leave but I knew they were looking at me, specially Alice.

If what that faceless man said was true then...

.

I looked around and spotted Julius all alone, Ace was not around. A passing faceless waiter offered me a drink and with a cup on my hand I went to speak with Julius quite content with myself. (_**This tastes spicy... and funny, is it cinnamon?**_)

.

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* * *

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**At least she accepts she is a horrible person, perhaps she is getting a bit desperate without even noticing it, sure, but her paranoia is kinda obvious here, the stuff she is carrying in basically chemical weapons and the cyanide pellets she mentions are what was used in the gas chambers during ww2 (they are still being manufactured today, so its very probable that they are still being produced whenever she is from). She might be able to use that horrible stuff to get away but it is something that can kill her too if she is not careful.**

**She also has a lot to think about, does anyone feels she´s getting more unstable? or more stable?**

**And she finally meet Elliot and the twins, Ace really likes teasing Julius (troll!), and Peter got owned XD and the party is not over yet.  
**

**.**

**PLEASE REVIEW**

**.**

**to sam-i-am:**

**I check those videos, thank you, I really liked them :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER 22**

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* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

_._

_-Hi Julius!- _He looked at me and I saw his face get a bit red.

_-Good night Aria. –_He said and turned to look some other thing

– _Did you drink too much? You´re somewhat red in the face._

_-! –_His face got redder- _No… err.. How is your voice sounding like that?-_He noticed that I wasn´t wearing my collar.

_-I do nOT neED A disTOrTEr to MOdulATE my VOicE_- I smiled at his confused expression XD, but he smiled a bit too.

.

I heard someone approach and I felt two hands on my shoulders.

.

_-Aria where you´ve been?! I need you, Grey just loads me with too much work_! – Nightmare wailed.

_-I should have already helped a bit with that Nightmare, it´s just that you are lazy. Work a bit more and things wont pile up. _

_-But it´s still tiring- _he wailed childishly and we all rolled our eyes.

-T_hen hire someone to do it for you… - _Before he could say anything I cut _in – NO, you can´t hire me for that. But I´ll improve the processes more, I can help you with a few issues in management of public issues too, ok? Besides, I wanna go and see lil Bunsen._

_-Yes! You´re my savor- _He then hugged me, this time I let him before prying him off me to take a sip of my drink_ (__**This tastes funny..)**_

_**-**__Who is Bunsen? – The clockmaster asked with a bit of confusion._

_-The kitten she and Grey rescued._

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* * *

**GREY´S POV**

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I sighted behind them and joined the conversation.

_._

_-Good to know you´re ok. It was kind of unexpected how you disappeared that night.- (__**Even more unexpected that no one could find you. You could have gotten hurt.**__)_

_-Unexpected?! What did you expected me to do when I was surrounded by unstable, dangerous and armed people ready to open fire everywhere in that place? Stay there and get killed?–_We all looked at her and then at each other (_**It´s true, we had endangered her a lot**_) –_The place was about to become a shooting gallery, I just presented a diversion to get away myself. Shoot each other all you want as long as I´m not around.- (_**Is she mad?**_)_

_-But I´m sure you´ve seen us, bullets are not a problem, Grey can easily deflect them- _Nightmare assured her.

-Don´t be such a showoff Nightmare. W_hat good is that to me? I can´t do that, He could have deflected bullets… towards me. And where I was standing I was a big and easy target. _

_._

I guess it´s true, if she hadn´t pull that off we would have undoubtly start a faceoff and any of us could have accidentally kill her. She ran away to save herself and nothing is wrong with that, nothing except the fact that we were the cause for that and that she had ran from away from us. It seems every time we start getting close to her something makes her go away.

But at least she is here right now.

I looked at her, she does look very good, confident but feminine, her muscles are somewhat defined and without that bulky armor she always wears we can now appreciate that despise her strong frame she is way more delicate than she usually seems,( _**ehem, from up upper point of view I have a very good look at her…**_ ) I mean, although, she´s not entirely defenseless, (_**she handed very well Peter White earlier on**_) … now that she is looking like an actual girl …

Damn, I can´t believe what transpired with the white rabbit … (_**and what she did to his pistol, Nightmare even started vomiting blood after spiting his drink while I crushed my glass cup**_) and where did she got such earrings? Did Joker…?

.

_-What happened with the white rabbit? We all saw how you. Handled _him – Julius asked the question before I did.

-_He threatened my life and I that is something I will not stand._ _I can´t believe he fell for that distraction, seriously, is he virgin or what? __** XD**__ . To tell you the truth I was just going to walk away, but he managed to piss me off. Bet he won´t be too happy to see me next time I come to work._

_-You plan to still come and work for him!? Why don´t you come and work for me instead, what´d you say? – _Boris and Gowland had arrived and Gowland took the chance to throw her his offer.

_-Sure, why not… but doing what_? – She put her fingers on her chin and lightly bit on her finger (_**such cute gesture!**_)

_-We´ll, you can help me with the rides and attractions and systems and what not!_ – Gowland didn´t seems so sure about what either.

-_I feel legally inclined to tell you that I´m not an engineer even if I do know basic enginery stuff. For rides and maintenance and all that mechanical stuff you´d be better off hiring a professional of that field, I can help you with design tough._

_-You aren´t an engineer? Then what are you? – _Boris asked her.

-_A white neck mercenary, duh! But if you´re asking about studies and tittles… well, I don´t think I can even name all the shit I´ve studied. __**(I have twu university titles, a specialty degree in game design, a master , an inconclusive doctorate... , and countless diplomas in a bunch of very unrelated stuff. Chemistry, military history, art & composition, traditional cuisine…,but I am a game designer, the rest just serves me to pay the bills as a mercenary. Not that I´m gonna tell anyone... I didn´t have a life, did I?**__)– _She let Nightmare hear those thoughts. And he repeated them to everyone and she face palmed.

_._

We all looked at her with disbelief.

.

_-How can you have "studied" all that? you´re not that old. –_Gowland was the one who asked her.

_-Because I never had much(any) social life. I used almost all my free time to study and never ceased, you can do 2 careers at the same time, especially if they are related by cutting the same classes. And you can do various extra courses in a day. And of course you can always do masters online. I did mine while backpacking traveling. – _She answered a bit exasperated, even waving her arms Not that we understood much, her world is very different than ours, but it´s almost unbelievable that she knows so much, and by now it seems that she ain´t exactly common in her world either. I wouldn´t believe it if I hadn´t see what she can do and listen to how she talks (_**quite admittedly we constantly lose track of what she´s saying, especially when she starts using technical terms.**_).

- _Hey! How old do you think I am? knowledge may have given me the age I don´t have but still..._ –she looked at all of us, and we all gulped down. This was one of those female questions every man fears.

.

We remained silent for apparently too long. She crossed her arms (_**making her chest stand even more**_) and started taping her fingers.

.

_-Then when did you learned to dance like that? –_Nightmare tried to remove the subject of her age and he turned to look at Julius and how both of their faces had gone a little red I´d say that they were remembering her monopolization of the dance floor.

-_Actually I have a diploma for a six-month course at university in afro-Caribbean and latin dances- _She deadpanned- _What?! I had a few free hours on Thursday and Tuesday nights and it was either that or poetry and I suck at poetry._

_-Ok…mmhh. In any case you seem quite nimble in the dance floor, I´m sure you can dodge well too, so you shouldn´t worry too much –_ Nightmare tried to change the subject again but it was the beginning doom of this conversation and our encounter with her tonight.

_-Have you even noticed something "different" in me tonight? –_Not another of those questions. We all internally grimaced.

-_Your hairstyle_? –Boris tried she looked weirdly at him and turned to Gowland.

-_Your makeup?- _From weirded her expression began changing toannoyment. She looked next to Julius, who didn´t knew what to answer either.

-_Your voice still sounding weird?_ - No, it wasn´t either and her eyes are tightening, I can almost see a vein popping in her forehead. Next she looked at me.

-Your earrings? – It had to be…! No, it wasn´t either. (_**Although we all wondered how she had things like that, it was like when she appeared wearing the warden´s uniform**_). Nightmare was last, hope he says it… Damn! He can´t read her mind unless she lets him!

-_Mmhhh…_ - Nightmare didn´t even had anything on his own mind, conveniently he started coughing blood.

_._

Maybe the cat was just curious when he asked that, maybe it was a question we all wanted to ask too; but it was a bad moment to ask her that and perhaps that had to be our first clue that something else was going on with Aria. Something that none of us would had ever think about but that we would discover perhaps too late on a further date.

_._

_-And what happened with Alice?_

_._

Aria´s smile turned a pleasant but it was a really fake one, as if she was imitating how a smile should look like, almost frozen.

.

_-Alice huh?…. Tell me Boris, what do you know about Alice? As you saw I didn´t speak much with her. – _She said and took the rest of her drink and commenting about its spicy flavor.

_._

She then started interrogating us about Alice. In the end she didn´t seem satisfied with what we told her.

.

_-We´ll that was useless. – _She mumbled to herself.

_-Aria, what are you not telling us_? – Nightmare was actually serious. There was something going on.

_-About? I´m afraid you´d have to be more specific Nightmare_- She smirked with fake innocence(_**so she´s hiding more stuff**_)- _There are also many things you didn´t tell me and there things I simply don´t need to tell you. _

_._

I remembered her words that time:

.

_Do not expect me to go telling my story just because others are curious. In any case it is irrelevant, I´ll be here for perhaps a few months and then I´ll return to my world and my presence will fade from your lives like dust in the wind._

.

Situation hasn´t changed. I guess she still does not trust any of us completely. Maybe that damn Joker was right.

.

_-Aria…_ - Nightmare was not kidding. Things could be serious and we didn´t know.

_-Unlike you I´m not exactly playing games._ – She said turning that smirk into a snarl – _Anyways, good night, I gotta go. I´ll see you later for work._

.

Before any of us could say or do something to stop her she had left and was heading to the gardens; She was almost at the exit when she was intercepted by Joker, one of them had catch her by the wrist and the other was circling her.

.

.

END POV

.

* * *

.

Aria had left the small circle of role holders very annoyed, she was ready to go out for a while after so many social interactions but she found herself being retained by a strong grip on her wrist.

.

-_Going somewhere without saying hello?_

-_That´s really uncouth._

_-Joker?- _She said a bit surprised and then and looked at the two, one was holding her and the other circled them, but instead of being alarmed, scared or at least unconfortable she sighted with relief and smiled again.

_._

_-I didn´t knew you were here._

_-O__**h**__, y__**e**__s, I __**a**__m h__**e**__r__**e**__. I __**s**__a__**w**__ e__**v**__e__**r**__y__**t**__h__**i**__n__**g**__ s__**i**__n__**c**__e __**y**__o__**u**__ a__**r**__r__**i**__v__**e**__d, __**w**__a__**s**__ i__**t**__ f__**u**__n __**t**__o l__**e**__t __**a**__ f__**a**__c__**e**__l__**e**__s__**s**__ p__**l**__a__**y**__ w__**i**__t__**h**__ y__**o**__u__** t**__h__**a**__t __**w**__a__**y**__? _

.

She smiled a bit more to his confusion.

.

_-Yes, it was really fun, it´s been years since I danced like that. He danced quite well, right? Besides, no other man invited me to dance tonight. Do I look that terrible, horrible or threatening? Or what? _

_._

Joker did not understand, here he was, trying to be menacing with her and she didn´t even noticed it (_**Authors note: Sorry boy, she wouldn´t understand subtlety even if a brick with the word "subtle" written on it hit her in the head**_). She even seemed genuinely happy to see him and was even asking him about her looks. Both of Joker looked her up and down, Black wolfishly grinned and White devilishly smiled.

_._

_-Not at all, you look quite nice. I also compliment you on your accessory choice, specially the earrings. But how did you get those?- _He said examining the pieces hanging from her ears, upon his contact with them he felt an almost unperceptively vibration.

_-I knew I had seen a design like that before! -_She finally noticed where she had seen something like her earrings before. It was basically the same as the mask Joker wore at his belt.

-_You mean you didn´t noticed?- _One of Joker barely stopped himself from face palming.

_-No, I just liked them and put them on for tonight. _

_-But where did you got them? It´s not just some random jewelry. That belonged to a past Joker –_ Joker didn´t know how he knew that, sometimes wonderland gave them information by his roles. Still, those earrings were a female accessory, he simply knew it now, at some point there had been two parts of Joker, each wearing one of those earrings. He didn´t even knew that there had been a female Joker before. (_**And as far as I knew that hadn´t happened in Hearts or Clover**_).

-_In the black market, but now they´re mine, I like them. __**^w^**_

_._

_Joker let her wrist free to examine more closely the earrings, and the other Joker took her other wrist and said._

_._

_-I´ll let you keep them, but…_

_-But…?_

_-Dance with me. _

_-Ok- _Readily and just like that, with a twist of her hand she changed the grip of her hand so that his hand was holding hers and with her other hand she put his free hand on her waist – _Seriously, I thought no one else would ask me to dance tonight. ^w^_

_._

Joker danced with her while his other self kept an eye on the other roleholders with an absolute confidence and a dirty mocking grin, which was returned with an utter hate and disdaining gaze. After the third song ended the other part of Joker danced with her 3 more songs (however the songs played by the orchestra weren't as fast or heated as what she had danced with the faceless), after that she excused herself saying her feet were killing her. Joker saw the slight sweat forming at the sides of her forehead and let her go.

.

_-Oh, also please D__**O**__ co__**m**__e t__**o**__ w__**or**__k f__**or**__ m__**e**__ SO__**ON**__._

_-I will._

.

And she went to the gardens to rest a bit, she was feeling dizzy.

.

.

* * *

**ARIA´S POV**

.

It was a splendid night, no clouds and bright starts (_**I'm starting to get sick of such perfect weather all the time, maybe my lungs miss the pollution**_), I was at the gardens resting my feet (_**I have so much to think about…**** heels**_). I walked further away from the noises of the party and sat at the banks of a big fountain and looked at my own reflection.

.

-_Feels longer than it has been, right?_ – I told my reflection.

.

Yeah, I hadn´t been here that long, yet it feels as if a lot of time has passed. Not so long ago I was blowing up a bridge or hacking and passing information to the rebels (_**or sometimes selling them to other forces**_). I admit that it´s been fun here, relaxing even.

.

_- But it´s getting close to its end and so am I. _

.

There will be a bunch of stuff I won´t find out, even if I want to I can´t waste time here. I must concentrate on what will help me more, even if I can´t replicate it I will still be able to take some of it back with me, and even if it doesn´t work in my world my plans will continue as they were before I arrived here. If I knew how people can see without eyes I could perhaps enhance my sensors, and it would be very useful to have a backup heart for when I synchronize, making my heart beat would be one less worry, but that would take much research time. I must focus on less stuff, with this shape changing weapons I will be able to heavily increase my loading and fire capacity, with the drink me and eat me potions I will be able to enter and navigate facilities very easily, and doors would potentially give me a way of escaping or setting up diversions.

.

-_But I´m not planning on escaping…_

_._

No, I´m not planning on escape death, I´m rushing towards it and embracing it when it comes. I have savored my life and I will savor my death.

I didn´t even bothered to try smiling, my reflection looked at me bothered and tired and had a trace of something I could identify..

.

-And I am so tired of it all…..(_**How strange that I "love" humanity but "hate" humans, right?)**_

.

As I told the role holders there is just so much shit someone can take and I saw and took enough. And all that shit must stop. I´m fucking tired of it all.

.

At least my efforts were ever fruitful when I was still "alive". And once I was "dead" I was able to provide them time and distractions, even some direct hits, small but effective, as efficient as possible. Even if I´m here right now I left enough surprises in my trail to cause a bunch of chaos or to be picked up by the "freedom fighters" (_**or soldiers of fortune like me**_). I hacked enough information to sink some important leeches and send it across the world, I also passed on the technology to create a bunch of nasty (_**but very useful or deadly**_) stuff to key places and helped the economies of small businesses to counter the big companies if only a little. There is still so much I can do, but it´s perhaps too late for that . But there´s still a mayor hit I can deliver and that only I can achieve, to synchronize myself to military systems and sent everything to hell. (_**How sci-fi, how a horrid villain I am!**_) But if I don´t go back and do that time will continue and the food shortages will get worse, the famines will spread for lack of medicine production and even more civil wars will start everywhere.

.

-_And I won't even leave a name for people and history to curse and blame - _ I smiled amused.

_-That´s right foreigner, there won't remain anything of you. Now cooperate or I´ll hurt you!_ – A man had hold me from behind, I had been caught off guard and I knew I was drugged or poisoned, maybe both. The only thing I could do was laugh hard at the situation, I was more or less in the same position that Alice girl had been during the last ball. Was this happening to me? Am I hallucinating in another battlefield? I think he´d find funny this situation…

.

_-I´m gonna hit and cauterize as many of the hydra´s head at once. (__**Such a moment to remember him, probably one last time). - **_ I didn´t heard someone screaming my name in the distance as I fell back unconscious, nor the sound of the horse´s hooves.

_**.**_

_**.**_

* * *

**PIERCE´S POV**

.

I had been at the gardens, just like last party I didn´t want to see Boris or the twins. I saw a girl walking out from the party and it looked suspicious and was completely alone, I was somewhat away and couldn´t see her well. I didn´t recognize her until a man came from the laberythn and took her hostage, I heard her laugher (which is as bad as Gowland´s music, maybe worse chu..), it was so bad that it left me paralyzed. Before she collapsed the wind brought me their essence.

.

-_MISS RONDO!... ARIA!_ – I screamed while another two man came riding horses and pulling a third one.

.

The man got on the horse fast taking Rondo with him, all them took off.

.

**END POV**

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* * *

.

**YEP. The reason she knows so much is because she studied a lot, even while traveling she took online courses (not always from the best places and not always good grades), and of course that means she never had time for learning social skills (not that she cares anyways).**


	23. Chapter 23

.

**CHAPTER 23**

.

* * *

_**FLASHBACK.**_

_**.**_

In a rundown building two people wearing muddy and bloodstained coats were resting with their backs against each other while dust feel over them from the ceiling as the building shackled from the hits of artillery shells casted over the city. Both were really tired, the man was just in his early twenties, his short hair was brown, a deep scar ran along one of his cheeks and his eyes were icy blue (**author´s note: imagine a younger version of Jericho Bermuda "the dodo" **); he was taller and broader than the girl at his back, who couldn't even be twenty and who was typing furiously over a small laptop.

.

-_You got data, gurl?_ – He asked looking over his shoulder at the girl with a thick accent.

-_Almost there, I just need a few minutes to download the files and then I can send the decoy coordinates._

_-Good. Maybe we ask for more money? –_He said and looked at her screen – _huh?_ _You not only finishing mission. You have personal agenda._

_-And you don´t? _

_-Da, I do. Why you fight here? _Y_ou too skilled in stuff you do but not in combat. You better in laboratory or factory, not in battlefield _Then laughed - _And you very good at _causing chaos and collateral damage ha,ha **;D**

-_That´s why you are here, to cover me up. I deal with the tech, you deal with the combat. _

_-I saw you fight. You good at getting away and disarming but no good at real attack, da? You no change of living long if you don´t. _

-(_sight_) _I know… - _She typed a bit more before turning off her equipment.

_._

They checked the references for the surroundings, and revised the satellite images and networks, it was clear they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

.

-_So… why you here? How you a mercenary? – _He asked with a smile.

-_We´re getting personal? Sorry, but I you´d have to tell your story for me to even consider telling you mine. –_ She had said that just because she tough he would not want to share his past either and would leave the topic alone. Maybe both could then focus on how to get out of there.

-_Da, it´s fair._ _My older brother was training for spetsnaz, but army too serious and strict for me, da? I quit and became mercenary at Eastern Europe.- _He took out a photo and showed it to her, in it there was him a few years younger and an older version of himself, probably his older brother_ - When chemical attacks on Bosnia he there on vacation. He survived attack but got killed by side effects. When block hostilities began, I got many jobs, then I got with company to smuggle cargo, ship got to stop on this country but it was discovered and government embargoed it, ownership of cargo under discussions, but owner will send force to rescue ship and cargo in few months, meanwhile I make some money with rebels. Fun to see big capitalist pigs angry. Now your turn- _He smiled and motioned to her. _**:)**_

_._

She blinked, she wasn´t expecting him to tell her anything. Much less all his life story.

.

_-I told, now you have to. Your terms your word, your turn, da? _– He said smiling amused.

.

_-I have nothing much else to do than mercenary jobs, not always raw fights, i´m more of a "white neck mercenary". I am really angry and as long as I can hit an interest or two…_

_-Life stolen from you, da latina gurl?- _He said because somehow he understood- _World is not a fine place, it's terrible and horrible but still worth to fight for._

_-How you knew..?_

_-Your accent and language slips more than mine in hard situations, gurl. __**XD**_

_._

They both remained exchanging bits of conversation for a while. Neither telling much else about themselves, he had already told him about himself and it was obvious that she would not tell him much about her past, he understood that it may have been painful or too personal, so he didn´t press her on that. But they did agree on various things.

She took out a box of cigarettes and offered him one, outside had started raining, ensuring that they would remain under cover for longer. Acid and chemical rain could be very deadly when mixed together.

_. _

- You know? _I´m fucking tired of the pollution and environmental destruction, of political and economic interests from transnational companies and foreign governments, of political agendas, of acid rain, of floating islands of trash and waste in the oceans, of instigated guerrillas, of the destruction of art and historical heritages, of the hypocrisy of the rich and the dumbness of the poor, of the willing ignorance of the masses and the general idiocy, nothing more than ****** consumist cattle. How stupid can humans be! How primitively irrational they are!_

-_ I´m tired too. Many nature beauty before, many human wonder but not so with war. Da, how long since last wild polar bear died? 5 years? _

_-Can't even remember… I want to annihilate up a company or two and some governments too before I get killed.. _

_-Da… You and more than one… me too. I wanna live and enjoy while I alive. But if you cut one head of hydra more will come out. Unless you burst and cauterize as many as possible at the same time… - he smiled._

_-I know…_

_._

A few hours passed.

_._

_-I have proposal gurl. You good at tech, I need to reach ship in couple months. We stick together for work until then. You get me in ship unnoticed and I train you on attack meanwhile. We work together, you deal with tech, I deal with combat, we make money. What you think?_

_._

She closed her eyes and inhaled her cigarette as she considered his proposal. It was not as if she had defined plans with dates set or anything better to do really. For what she knew he was an experienced mercenary (that´s why they had hired him to cover her) and she didn´t have much experience herself, it was also true that she sucked at attacking; She had practiced a bunch of martial arts from capoeira to samo and krav-magab, but she had practiced for just a few months, so she had basically only learned how to disarm and get away besides some of the basic moves. He was completely right, she would not live long without knowing offensive moves. Besides it was a good deal, If they get on the move to that port there would be plenty of mercenary job (either his or her specialties) and messing off with security of the port to help him board his ship would be easy.

She finished her cigarette and looked at him, his eyes brightened a bit when she sealed the deal by shaking his hand.

.

_-Da, I accept. -_She smiled.

-Da? Ha,ha - He returned the smile and shaked her hand with a strong grip.

.

None of them were saying their real names. Being partner's didn´t mean they trusted each other.

.

**END FLASHBACK**

.

.

* * *

.

**ARIA´S POV**

.

.

I managed to disperse some of the dizziness, my system metabolized the chemicals fast.

I knew I was being kidnapped and that I was on a horse laying down in front of whomever was over the reins, probably the one that knocked me out. I'm either poisoned or drugged… probably both… my head hurts…. (_**Primary response activated - protocolo de respuesta en proceso**_), just a few more moments to restore my sensorial and motion control enough…

.

_-We should just kill her- (__**voz #1 detected**__) – It would be faster, one down and another to go. Without foreigners this ***** place will disappear, or we can ask for a ransom I´m sure roleholders will pay nice for the untaken foreigner  
_

_-What´s the hurry? We can have fun with her first, she has a nice ass. – _I felt a hit on my rear_. (__**Voz #2 detected- extreme prejudge in elimination process suggested) –**__Besides, the daze powder should work well with the "red hot" I added. –_ I felt another hit in my rear and a hand moving to were my dress ended,entering the inner part of my legs all the way up and moving to squeeze my butt.

_**-**__Yeah, her front is good too. Let´s just get away first. –__** (Voz #3 detected- extreme prejudge in extermination process determined) –**__How stupid! They prohibited the entrance to vehicles but let other ways of transportation. And they didn´t check for all the drinks, it was very easy to pass her that cup. As soon as we reach the exit we´ll be fine, there´s someone ready to get us._

.

(_**Initializing response activity, objectives determined. Mission: survival and information gathering**_)

.

I broke a small seal in the palm of my gloves that I had prepared earlier (_**NO way was I gonna attend unarmed anywhere**_) and put it fast in the stomach of the person that had kidnapped me. The electric shock (_**Thanks you Tesla!)**_ made him scream and threw him off the horse pulling the reigns back and making the animal rise on his hind legs giving me the change to take control of the animal (_**thanks my gauchos and charros cousins for teaching me to ride**_).

.

-_What the! - (__**voice #1 detected, voice # 3 identified, target # 2 neutralized**__)_

.

The other two guys had bypassed me and were just catching up on what was happening, but I was already charging towards them with the added speed of the horse, I took the necklace and flip my wrist to turn it into a big machete. (_**Engaging action**_)The lenses in my eyes were active, showing the dangers/targets in a red light.

One of the men was turning around already but it was too late, I had already stroked him down with a hit to the neck that almost decapitated him (_**Target # 3 eliminated**_). However my weapon got stocked in his bones and I was still dizzy and felt my body raising it´s temperature.

The last one didn´t knew what to do, I was already turning around when he made the stupid mistake of trying to run away sideways to a rose bush, we were still at the end of one of the rose corridors in the castle gardens. I went straight towards him and made my horse collide with his, I jumped in the last moment, sending us both through the rose bush. I used him to shield myself at the same time I kicked him to force him to land in a bad position, by his scream he had broken something, probably his leg and I broke his other one (_**Target # 1 incapacitated**_).. I got back to retrieve my machete and the ***** who had dared to touched me (_**I´m VERY angry**_), he was still alive (_**he´ll wish he was dead**_) and dragged his body to where his partner was crying in of pain, I felt that I had received a good hit too and it is sure to be swore tomorrow if I survive that long.

I put the unconscious one in front of the crying injured. I would have preferred if this one was conscious, but I was enough aware that I needed to be fast if I wanted to hear what I needed to know and get time to get rid of their waiting pals.

.

-_Why you intended to kill me_? – I asked the crying man, but he didn´t respond. –_If you don´t answer fast I´ll do something like this to you._

_**.**_

I turned towards the unconscious man and began applying a bit of my anatomy and history knowledge (regarding the Spanish inquisition, la guerra sucia, the anrco wars... and operación condor) in front of his accomplice.

.

_-Now. Answer. _

_._

_-But foreigners are weak…and…and..._

_._

I made another gruesome cut with the machete, then he started speaking, a few broken fingers also helped his tongue get boy, did he speak!

.

Not all the survivors of Diamond wanted to repair Wonderland, some of them were very resented and wanted to actually destroy it, they were another group that had separated form that contacted me for the mirror shard. This were the ones who had attacked the hatter´s state. They were a group that was targeting the foreigner, they had tough that I would be an easy target because I´m not around the role holders that much. This confirmed more what that man told me while dancing with me. But I still had my reserves. I can´t process all that info right now. For now I will only end the current treat.

.

-N_ot all strength is physical. – _I told him when he kept muttering about how frail foreigners were meant to be.

_**.**_

I took out one of the sticks holding my hair in place and put one of its ends in the mouth of the crying man and pressed the button at its other end, a simple spring mechanism, just like a candy dispenser, but rather than candy it was a _Zyklon B pellet, I shut his mouth and kept it closed forcefully while the pellet entered in contact with his saliva to generate _Hydrogen cyanide, I left the body and turned to his unconscious partner. I could´t leave evidence even if I wanted to give this one a fate worse than dead, I used another pellet and went towards the remained horses (_**they are trained enough to wait for their riders, huh?).**_

_._

_-You will know that messing with me was a BAD mistake. _

.

I was still drugged and felt my pulse going faster and my anger getting a bit out of control, I felt bloodlust gracing all my body and shaking it with anger to the core _(__**I am drugged and high, my blood is rushing fast and I´m angry and itching for a fight.)**_. I couldn´t let the rest of their band get away or they would target me again. So I made mounted the horse and made it run fast in the direction they were heading.

.

_-Miss nice foreigner is over. _

.

**END POV.**

.

* * *

.

The role holders were left speechless when Aria had been caught by Joker, and instead of telling him off she had danced with both of them. She was even smiling at him, very different from the annoyed expression she had when she left them. They didn´t knew what had gone wrong, they were losing her.

.

After that she had left to the gardens where she had originally headed. Joker left the ball and retreated to his territory. A little after that they heard someone scream.

.

-_MISS RONDO!... ARIA! – _

_._

And they ran to the garden to see the dormouse running towards them and the end of a ragged red coat disappearing further into the maze.

.

_-What happened rat!?_ – Boris screamed to the mouse.

_-Someone took her! I´ll get the queen, you follow the Knight !_ –The mouse told them briefly before going to look for Vivaldi.

.

Boris followed the mouse knowing that the queen was not fond of rodents.

_._

_-Grey, go!_ –Nightmare told his aide who didn´t waste time and went after the knave of hearts.

.

.

* * *

.

She got close to the end of the vast gardens and clear lands surrounding the castle and got down from the horse leaving it at a tree to advance stealthily to keep the surprise element on her targets.

Two trucks ready to go were stationed forming an arrow head pointing towards the castle, probably to be used as shields in case of gunfire, at their back in the open road were smaller vehicles. People were armed and moving around but on the safe side of the trucks, each vehicle was only occupied by the driver.

Aria knew she would be undetectable until she got in the open. She´d had to find set a trap, there was no chance she could win on a straight fight.

.

-(But I don´t need to defeat them to kill them)- A twisted smile formed on her lips as sweet ran down her forehead. Whatever drug they had given her definitely had her high and eager. She wan´t thinking very clearly anymore.

.

.

* * *

.

**FLASHBACK**

.

Two people were covering behind and old broken bus in the rundown remains of a city. They had circled a band of combatants that were resting and had got on the upper floor of a nearby remains of a building.

The combatants had use vehicles to form a caravan perimeter and were on the lookout, getting close had been easy for just two people, had there been more they would had been easy to spot, that way they had gone from outpost to outpost eliminating each one while heading unnoticed towards the main camp with the light rain as cover aid.

Both mercenaries had been paid to recover some military hard drives that this particular gang had stole from the corpses of a specially assigned vanguard brigade (along all the weapons and gear) and their temporary boss desperately wanted the info on those drives to barter his or her way around both rebels and government.

.

-_Why did we accepted this job again?_ - The female said while looking through her digital binoculars.

-_You need experience Pochemuchachka... _(_**Authors note: thats a real** **word**_**)**- The male mercenary said a bit frustrated.

_-What does that means?_ - His female partner asked.

_-It means "person who asks a lot of questions"_ - He answered and took a sip of his canteen.

-_Can´t help it, it´s in my nature. How else am I going to learn?_ -She said and took a sip of her´s.

-_That´s exactly why we took job._ _You know theory. Now you get practice and we get good money_.- He side-smiled.

_-They have high caliber weaponry, it´s well situated and their personnel are well positioned too. If we use explosives we risk destroying those drives.  
_

_-Da. We can´t win in direct fight. What do you suggest? -H_e said looking though his own binoculars.

-_We don´t need to defeat them to achieve our goal, do we? Remember what I was "cooking" the other day._

_-Da? Your cooking almost killed me.- _He smiled ravishingly - _You are a chef from hell, gurl.  
_

_._

The female opened a few container and from the soft anti impact case she took out some glass pieces. She passed them with care to her companion and he threw them like baseballs in the exit points of the caravan and then in the center of it. It took seconds for the humans bellow to start dying under the effects of the deadly chemical mixture, those who managed to get away were already exposed and would either die soon or live with very bad side effects for a while before dying too.

All while the pair watched from above.

.

_- It´s horrible, da?_ - His voice quivered - _Let´s never use horrible stuff unless our lives depend on it,... da? _- He said almost pleadingly to his partner.

.

She was unaffected by the horrid show below,at much she looked curious at the effects of her brew upon being tested on living subjects; In contrast he couldn´t help but remember the dead of his brother and worry about the state of his temporary partner. For what he had discovered of her she had no compassion, no sympathy and no empathy whatsoever, yet she was not a mental psycho who get on a roll from others pain and suffering. He was a tough guy all the way trough, but even so he didn´t like useless death. he didn´t like using all the things she could procure, but her also knew that she didn´t have much of a choice if she wanted to survive. He couldn´t understand her and he knew she wouldn´t bother to understand anyone either way, but he knew that there was a lot more behind the girl and he was curious about it. He knew she was even more dangerous than what she considered herself to be, her knowledge had amazed him, but it was her determination and lack of restrain that gave her edge, she knew no boundaries.

.

.

**END FLASHBACK**

.

.

* * *

**ACE´s POV**

.

I guess all the preparations and extra security measures that Peter ordered on that memorandum weren´t necessary after all, Vivaldi cut off the vehicle access and the guards were set in main entrances and exits. Quite frankly even if it´s my duty I forgot to, ha,ha.

I should be about to reach the kitchens soon…(**Author´s note: No Ace, you are at the other side of the castle -_-0** )I don´t need to patrol much, then I can go back to drink with Julius and maybe get Aria to dance with me because Alice probably won't.

.

-_MISS RONDO!... ARIA! _

.

I got out of a bush and saw the mouse running towards some men riding horses. I saw one of them with Aria unconscious on his lap.

.

_-GO TELL THE QUEEN!_ – I screamed at the mouse who turned around heading to the castle, I ran towards where they had fled. (_**No one is going to steal my trio**_! ) I didn´t even think about it when I ran towards them following the sound of the hooves.

.

Maybe I should have followed that memo´s instructions .

.

.

**END POV**

.

* * *

Grey had run towards where he saw Ace run to, the sound of hooves was already gone for when he had managed to catch up with the knave.

.

_-I don´t know where to go Mr. Lizard_ – The knight said with a smile that was mocking himself.

_-Just follow me_ – Grey said and continued running followed by Ace

.

Not long after they reached a part where a body was almost decapitated, a gap on the rose bush wall nearby led them to two more corpses, one had the legs broken and had been forcefully shutting his mouth and crying while doing it, probably when he was killed, however no other killing injuries were present. The last one looked horrid (Ace had seen similar things in the prison), more so because they noticed that all had been done while that man was still alive and was done in front of his peer.

.

-_You think Joker was here_?

-_No, both of them left after dancing with Aria._

_._

They knew that at this rate they were already too late to catch anyone, just then they heard hooves approaching fast in their way. Both prepared themselves to attack and waited. The figure approached fast but they recognized her once she was close enough, she looked at them in acknowledgment but didn´t slowed down, a glint in her eyes turned from red to green when she looked at them, however she didn´t stop, and the smell of blood coming from her was strong enough for they to detect it as she passed by them. She was hurt.

Both of them ran again following her trail.

.

.

* * *

.

Aria counted her resources, she had maybe a few of minutes of surprise factor, she ad enough chemical weapons to neutralize her opponents but only if they were not dispersed and the rest was useless without water, her electric gauntlets had recharged enough for discharge each, her machete nothing else.

She also needed to neutralize the drivers first to prevent their scape. If she didn´t finished this now they would get her later. She analyzed their positions and devised a simple strategy, she needed to concentrate as many of them in an enclosure, one of the truck drivers had a drink in his hands, aria smiled and took out the chopsticks from her hair, she removed the spring mechanism and put her lips on the end of the stick to use it as a blowgun, the driver looked towards the center of the formation and she took her chance, her accuracy was not that good, but the pellet hit the drivers hand and feel into his drink making him spill it over himself with a loud cuss, gas started forming and invading the vehicle and the people outside it came inside to see what was happening.

Aria didn´t waste time and move behind the bushes towards the other end of the enemy formation; as people were distracted by the small gas cloud and the screams of agony she managed to put another pellet in the mouths of the left side drivers, the third one managed to see her throw a side mirror, he was to late to do anything else but scream the alarm. From that car Aria got another beverage from the cup holder and put the rest of the pellets in it, then she trew it into the center of the formation between the vehicles along the rest of the contents of her other chopstick and took cover before running a little change in wind would send the deadly cloud towards her and she would die too, however if she left them alive they would kill her. Probably they were spread though all territories and were very cautious and could hid among the general population, they had managed to pass heart´s security and even her own lullaby at the party and they were all to get her.

There were few people left and that´s were the real fight began. She tried to run back to the bush fences but was intercepted by some of her foes, they were coughing blood already and didn´t have that much time left, but she was still dizzy and was probably getting a fever, had she received only the physical hits things would have been fine, were she wearing her suit it would have been a walk in the park;the real problem was that whatever substances she were in her system she was metabolizing them at the moment and thus their effects were in full.

She hasted to attack with her machete, the struggle lasted maybe a couple of minutes and was joined by the others that were still alive and that have realized that it was the foreigner, making this their last stand, so they fought without restrains, their bullets biting their own partners before being disarmed by the girl´s moves or their hits landing on her flesh as they didn´t have enough motion control to pull a trigger, being paralyzed by the girls laugh, at some point one of the hits had forced her machete loose from her hand and one faceless had taken it and had slashed her side with it before he died as she reclaimed it. It had been short, tough and brutal.

.

* * *

**.**

**VIVALDIS POV**

.

We had been disappointed when Aria decided not to attend our ball, yet she still helped the prime minister to plan it and then disappeared again after that. It surprised us when her presence was announced at the ball and we were pleased by it. Her attire was somewhat scandalous but it fit her body very well (_**she has better taste than she lets on)**_, she ought to drop that armor more often or forget about it completely, her body is very complementing to be hidden by the suit she wears constantly.

Alice was by our side, she had looked disappointed when we informed her of the other foreigners announced absence, she had expected to meet Aria at the party since Aria hasn't visited the hatter´s territory yet; She had asked us about the new outsider as she hasn´t really left the hatter´s mansion. She was in the same position as Aria, neither foreigner knew anything about the other.

To our pleasure it was then that the subject of our discussion arrived and came to greet us, immediately I noticed her choice in jewelry and couldn´t help but wonder, even if it complimented her dress very well, we knew that such items were not simple earrings. We role holders have some very specific items or features tied to us and our roles. The queen of hearts have her scepter, the hatter has his hat, the white bunny has his pocket watch, and so on, we didn´t knew about all the objects, it was best if we kept them secret, however we all knew about Joker´s belt masks that they use to communicate with each other, and the earrings she was wearing were just like such, we could feel it, yet we haven´t seen this before and we wonder about it. But we kept it to ourselves, we´ll ask her personally later in private, asking about her attire in a ball would be very rude and inappropriate.

I made the presentations and Aria seemed eager to speak with Alice (_**This girl has always so many questions :) **_) , and Alice seemed eager to speak with her, however when Aria extended her hand to Alice, our dear friend took a step back and refused the handshake. We noticed that Alice was looking at Aria´s earrings and understood her reaction. Joker had abused mentally our dear friend and had forced her worse fears, insecurities and regrets upon her to the point that she had been left scared of even hearing of him. Our dear brother had saved her when she was about to succumb to the prisons tricks, but Joker cannot be killed by anyone from wonderland and that had scared Alice even more. She can´t help but be very scared of the unkillable monster that tortures souls physically and mentally.

Alice noticed too late her compromising gesture and then it was her who offered her hand and Aria the one to ignored it, we knew the damage was done, Aria is already very distrusting and hardly opens up at all, unlike Alice always expects the worse and moves along so too fast for anything to be rectified. We´ll have to speak to her later.

Blood came to Alice´s side very fast and cut off any communication attempt between the foreigners, he wants to be there in control of things, but we are not sure that is the best thing. There are certain issues, some between foreigners and some between women that these two must handle themselves.

We are, however, are impressed once again by the diplomatic skills of the other foreigner and even more impressed by her skill in performance, we admit that the way she moves in the dance floor is… entailing and alluring, our clock feels as if it's going faster, the music reaches our deeps and we desire to behave that faceless for holding our friend in such manner. We are not sure if we want to dance like that or to have her dance with us. Blood and Alice didnt´stop looking at the new foreigner, but my brother glances at Alice every time Aria makes a too revealing or sensual move. He probably is asking himself if Alice can do that; However is the wonder and confusion in Alice´s face that catches our attention, Alice seems completely unaware of what Aria is doing.

.

-_Isn´t the new foreigner full of surprises_? –Blood said after looking at what she did to the prime minister.

-_Aren´t foreigners full of them? –_I replied

.

Alice had been worried when Peter went to threaten Aria, we knew it was fine, he wouldn´t dare to act against the rules, especially when Alice was here and Joker was around; however Aria wasn´t going to take Peter´s treatment, more than one person, male and female, (_**even us)**_ had feel their faces heathen at her erotic display with the rabbit´s gun, and many more had laughed at the prime ministers panic and at how her trick allowed her submit the prime minister under her.

Faceless will probably gossip about it forever, a delicate foreigner submitting the white rabbit so easily.

.

Now I was sure that the prime minister would really lose his composure, however this time Blood´s underlings handled the situation. I turned to see Blood, he was calculating things and deemed it better to leave as soon as possible. His worry for Alice is admirable but he´s not handling things properly, he fears things will get out of his control. That is something we shall discuss with him too at private.

.

We allowed him to leave as his attendance to the event was fulfilled and the ball would end in two or three hours at much. He didn´t waste time and called his subordinates. We promised Alice a tea party soon and they left.

.

Aria took a drink offered by a waiter and went to join the clock master´s company; they soon were joined by the amusement park´s and clover tower´s crew.

.

- _Fools! -_(_**Men can be SO dense**_) Everything was going fine until they said something that made the girl angry. More than once for what I had found out they had said or done things to make her turn away. (**_They are losing their chances of making her stay!_**)

.

We were going to reach for our friend but Joker intercepted her before us. We could see that he had some personal issue but whatever he was threatening her with, it wasn´t working and to everyone´s surprise she seemed to enjoy their encounter.

Curious to us was that Joker didn´t seem to know her earrings either, but soon it turned unimportant when she started dancing with him while the other roamed around making sure no one got close. We so want to decapitate him.

.

At last he let her go and she went to the gardens, she looked a bit dazed and in need of rest, so I went to order a room to be prepared for her.

.

Soon after the cat came running toward us with the horrible mouse near, we almost ran away at seeing the fifty rat but the kitty stopped us.

.

-_Your majesty! It´s an emergency! Someone took Aria! – _The kitty exclaimed, that´s probably why he was tolerating the rat.

_-What!?_ – We ordered the guards to sound the alarm and we convoked the medic and nurses from last time to get ready in case she was injured and all the other pertinent orders while the kitty explained to us what the rat had seen (the rat had thankfully disappeared), then we gracefully ran towards the gardens.

.

* * *

.

We were at the gardens, the incubus, the clock master and the marquis where there not knowing what to do, the rat was with them. To say we were angry was insufficient.

.

_-You dare to let someone take our precious friend! I´ll behead you! Where is the knight?! We´ll behead him! – _We have heard the mouse and had gotten angry, haven´t we ordered the knight and guards to vigil the foreigner?!

-_Of course I´m serious! I think that she might be involved in something we don´t even know about. Who knows what she´s been involved with her researches! _

-_Why does things always go wrong with foreigners_. They are so troublesome… - The clock master complained, but his worried look took away the lie from his words.

_-It´s like Alice during the last ball! –The incubus added_

_-It was not, chu!- _The mouse said and he looked scared when we all looked at him_ – I mean that Aria was alone, there was no one to help her, chu!- _Then he added more quietly -_ She is always alone, chu…_

_-He and Grey went to look for her, but whoever took her had horses. They planned it well –_Nightmare was serious

_-There is some sort of expectation in wonderland, I´ve seen it among the faceless- _The marquis mentioned

_-Maybe it´s that she is certain to be leaving wonderland. –_ The clock master was very uncomfortable

_-And what have any of you done to prevent it?! As far as we´ve seen you all only seem to push her away.- _They were going to hear this.- _Aren´t you playing the game!? You´re useless as men! Can´t even protect her!_

.

Before we continued arguing we heard a galloping horse approach.

From the garden´s maze she came riding with dignified urgency, we noticed her eyes gleaming red and then green upon looking at us with a fiery look. She headed our way and stopped the horse somewhat abruptly. By sliding down she dismounted and patted the neck of the animal while using it for support she prevented herself from falling.

Many small lacerations painted her skin with red lines and her attire barely covered her anymore as it has been torn on various places, a deep and long gash on her side let blood flow while she tried to keep it close with her other hand, sweat were forming and falling along the frame of her face. She coughed a bit and blood spurred from her mouth. Yet a twisted half smile was formed on her lips as if she was content with something.

She focused again and her defiance gaze held ours and we saw green and red flashes pass on the surface of her eyes before fading into the lovely olive green shade we loved.

The other role holders called her name and came close but she ignored them while addressing us, her voice sounding as monotone and calm as she could mange, but its tone and accent changed constantly without any pattern, her eyes closing tightly for a moment as she tough her words.

.

-_Poisoned with drink and then further inoculated, substances are "daze" and with something called "hot red", poison probably added too. Symptoms are increased blood flow preventing wounds from closing fast, fastened pulse, slight daze and inability to focus properly, muscles throbbing, high temperature, deeper and faster breathing…_

_-Hot red!? That´s an aphrodisiac!- _the marquis said with a red face

_-Like Viagra… That explains the increased blood flow impeding wounds to close and the slow coagulation rate… and the throbbing on sensible skin… and the lust for blood earlier… also the data review...  
_

_._

She was trembling and we approached to help her stand, she let us help her and continued, her palm over my clock and her gaze on my bossom moving up to look my eyes in a very strange way.

.

– _Exposure to chemical agents has been nullified. Drugs effects still in system. Blood reserves at only 2/3..._

.

We listened to the rest of her symptoms, knowing them now was more important than asking her what had happened in case she fainted. We called for the guards to take her to the room where medic treatment was awaiting her; She recalled something and added:

.

_-Don´t touch the clocks without decontamination… - _She turned to look at the mortician and held onto the guards, clearly not wanting to let the male role holders touch her and still holding herself on her own feet but just so barely.

.

She then looked at Nightmare with a deadpan look and Nightmare gasped as she started ramble.

.

_-Damn rabbit, I´m gonna hit Peter so hard… idiot didn´t implement the security measures I passed him in that memo…. Damn ***** I´m gonna ****** ***************. Damn world…. Damn situation…. Damn... I´m losing to much blood…_

.

-Bella! chiao... - The rat said catching Aria´s attention.

.

Then the rat got close and looked at her in the eyes timidly, before we ordered someone to behead it he gave our friend a hug and told her something in the ear before letting go. She looked at him, smiled lightly and nodded before she walk away to get medic attention.

.

Before following her we turned our scowl to the present roleholders. -_What kind of men do nothing while the damsel rescues herself!? _

_._

* * *

.

**Wow, this was long. next chapter is practically ready.**

**And this because Ace was too lazy to follow a memo -_-0 **

**If Blood looks like Alice´s ex maybe there was someone in wonderland that looked like a person Aria knew**


	24. Chapter 24

.

**CHAPTER 24**

.

_-We are Shell-Shocked Veterans, war never will end for us, da?_ -He said sadly. The cigarette in his hand shacked before he took another pull at it and threw it aside - _We've seen and done things that no amount of therapy could ever heal, da? We are __irrevocably scarred..._

_-I agree, but I think you are over reacting. After all, we successfully finished the mission. They told us to destroy the weapons being created in sector C of that facility.-_She said without a hind of being evenly disturbed at the massacre they had done earlier_- They simply forgot to tell us that the weapons weren't viral or chemical and we never considered that we would face B.O.W.s . If we hadn´t killed the Bio-organical weapons now that they were on their infant state, we might have had to face them later once they reach adult stages. _

_._

* * *

The sector C of the facility they had infiltrated while other teams attacked the other sectors had been a hospital and laboratory. The research center was not on any map, either civilian or military. The technology they had encountered had probably required a humongous investment, the kind that could only be provided by a huge mega-company or a big economic block.

When they saw what was being breaded in there, the man had vomited and the girl had gotten excited about the scientific research advancements (to her partner's horror), she had happily proceeded to hack all the information in the systems and store it in one her multiple drivers installed in her suit and gadgets, with a couple of petabytes and zettabytes of capacity distributed in all her stuff she had plenty of free space.

Once she was finished hacking, transmitting or stealing whatever she found useful they had proceed to set up the auto detonation systems (_how convenient that these hidden facilities had those, just like video games!_); however they had to get sure of destroying the weapons, whether their targets were mere living petri dishes or engineered weapons.

So they had entered the incubation ward and had done what needed to be done. Then they had escaped and hadn´t stop till they reached a safe base town away from the mission site.

.

* * *

No one but them was around in at least a secure radius, all teams had dispersed to the nearby locations, she was reviewing all her newly acquired data and his partner was sitting by the window frame with a lost and hopeless look on his face.

.

_-Off all things we done…- _He looked at the girl, she was not affected, not at all, or at least he could see it; he on the other hand was breaking. Mission after mission he had dragged her into subsequently more dangerous missions in his selfish desperate desire and attempt to teach her how to survive (_**Perhaps I wanted to show her how dangerous and horrible world really is, maybe I wanted to scare her out of it, but the one on edge now is me…)**_ _-You truly don´t really care about anything anymore, da? _

_-Caring is not an advantage. – _She finally looked at him and noticed his distress- _Snap out of it! we have been on this for a few months and were close to your port. You have been the one choosing most of the jobs and we have ended up victorious in all of them so far._

_-Da. With varying degrees of success and_ _sanity. - _He was at the brick of collapsing, his hands at the back of his head and in desperation.

.

-_I dont understand why you are so upset... -_She was by his side, her presence looming over him, his hand reaching for the gun at his belt...

.

- I. SAID. SNAP. OUT. OF. IT!

.

She took a hold of his coat and forced him to see her, even though he was bigger and physically stronger he complied with her demand and saw her confused scowl over him… and without notice she kissed him.

_**-( I still don´t know if you´re unfeeling machine, a jerk with gold heart or my knight in sour armor...)- **_The man returned the kiss avidly.

.

* * *

.

**WEDGE´S POV**

.

The boss is awesome, the first time I and Biggs spoke to her it was amazing, she was so friendly to us faceless! We had gone to get the other foreigner and we were really scared, we knew that more than likely we would get killed or even worse…

Everything happened very fast, from when she got on our truck to from when the old boss got killed. We didn´t knew what to do and she was trusting me with the suitcase, we were all confused during that attack, for a moment I even tough that we were being attacked by some role holder for taking their foreigner away. She directed us to escape and remained to deal with everything.

I was stunned, she had chosen me for a big job, almost a role, but I didn´t really knew what to do, she entrusted me that suitcase but it´s contents never made sense to me, specially that old poem. We tried to recover the old boss's clock so that he could be back but we never found it. We were in a pinch, a small nameless group with maybe too big aspirations to be someone's one day, but without a boss we would be eliminated very quickly; none of us knew what to do and we might break a rule if we tried the boss thing without a real boss, then Biggs suggested the craziest idea anyone has ever had in wonderland, it was so crazy that it might have worked and it did.

We started looking for her, but she had disappeared, there wasn´t even traces, sightings or anything (later on we´d learn that if the boss didn´t want to be found there was no one, not even the role holders that could find her), we were starting to fear the worse when Biggs appeared with her, we were all incredibly happy, if she was here it was because Biggs had convinced her to be our boss!

She took pity on us and helped us, her orders were precise and her methods were direct and efficient, pretty brutal in a way, but she also was very kind and taught us many things and was always very eager to learn anything, no matter how useless it was or how pathetic we were at it. She corrected all I had done wrong in my short time as boss, she didn´t kill me for all those mistakes, she made me improve.

We understood that for her safety (and ours) she wanted to keep her identity secret, we only called her boss when she was around (partly because it was cute how she always reminded us that she wasn´t our boss) and very soon we were growing a lot as an organization, she had made sure to attack were no one had attacked and gain in ways no one had ever dreamed about, our economic power has grown too much, yet it still remained unsuspected from other groups, our bars and clubs were on top thanks to the "foreign feeling" and music, we feel as if nothing could stop us.

And finally we got a name; We were extremely happy to finally adopt a name, and we chose it to honor her and the name she chose for us to call her.

Then there was the incident of our place near the amusement park, that was a turning point for us, we could confirm the legendary kindness of foreigners and she finally admitted to be our boss, she accepted us; we had won her heart more than any role holder so far and we understood that we needed to be a lot more powerful for her.

We know foreigners are delicate, but our boss is also very powerful on her own right, and it might be that even among foreigner she is different because "Alice" the other foreigner is nothing like that according to what we´ve gathered, and we´ve gathered much although I don´t understand why she ordered us to get all that information, however I´ve seen her make strange calculations with data, and then she learns things we couldn´t even imagine. She even devised a connection to a printer and "synched" herself (_whatever that is_) to it and gave me some books to check on, math mainly and I got a lot more by myself. Now it´s my duty to become smarter and better, Biggs thins that too, we became very serious in training a lot, the boss had been right, How can we mere faceless even claim to protect her when we can´t defeat that which she can´t defeat herself?

She always tries to think in every detail and when she left for the ball she also told us to contact in a secondary point with the other group. She had looked so beautiful, her curiosity for how the weapons transformed distracted her so much that Biggs and I had to drag her to the vehicle and promised to take her to the blacksmith, she was already late for the ball and so were we for the second point. Biggs and I went personally, for some reason we have become stronger since we meet the boss (_**maybe is the foreigner´s magic**_), and we have to or we´ll lose her. And after what we learned tonight we´re gonna do everything and everything to avoid that! (_**No matter what it takes.**_).

.

.

* * *

.

**NIGHTMARE´S POV.**

.

.

Something is not right, but I don´t know what is wrong either. Everything seemed to be going fine at the ball until she got angry at us. If only I could read her mind I would know what we did wrong and make it right! None of us even got to dance with her and Joker took the change to interfere with our chances in the game. The next we knew was that she was being kidnapped and then she appeared on her own injured and in a complete mess and we don´t know how or why!

She looked at me and showed let her toughs wander to what had transpired tonight and I gasped, she mentally added that she would try something later in a dream.

Vivaldi took her to a medic and we were left wondering.

.

_-What went wrong? – _That was Gowland´s and everyone´s question.

.

A little later on I felt a ping and knew she was sleep and dreaming (_**or so I though**_), It was an invitation, so I went to her.

.

END POV

.

* * *

**DREAMSCAPE**

.

After some trouble Nightmare managed to entered her dream space and noticed he wasn´t in control of anything (and he should be able to control everything in dreams), there was nothing about the dream that he could change, in fact, it felt different than a dream.

He found himself in a white room, he felt Aria (all around him in fact) but he couldn´t see her.

.

-_Oh, it seems that it worked._ – Her mechanized monotone voice said from nowhere and everywhere, impersonal and unfocused.

-_Aria…?_– He looked around, she wasn´t there.

-_Hello "test subject – Nightmare" and welcome to the: "Virtual enrichment test chamber and meeting room dream interface projection", I inform you that this "Virtual test meeting "in the recently generated "Virtual enrichment test chamber and meeting room dream interface projection " will be digitally monitored and recorded on a simplified graph in basis on brain activity and synaptic conditions, which I am not required or inclined to disclose afterwards._

_-What? Please speak normal Aria, just tell me where are you. Let me see you._

_-Responding to subject queries… I am in a room at heart´s castle receiving medical attention, thus you can't see me right now. As for the language patterns and grammatical outputs…, it is around other life forms incapable of processing my normal speech patterns that I occupy more processing capacity to lower the speech patterns to a simplified version, that is hard. At this time I have no capacity to waste on colloquial language forms processing as I am using it to generate this location and speaking in this particular language. I am not simulating or mirroring any observed external behavior either, deal with it._

_._

Another man appeared to Nightmare´s surprise.

_._

_-So you´re saying that the way you act is just an imitation of what you´ve seen and that you make your form of speaking dumber for those dumb enough to not understand what you are saying and you are too busy creating this dream to do so anyways._

-_That is correct "Unaccounted for and unexpected visitor- White_Joker" _

_-Joker! What are you doing in this dream!?_

_._

Nightmare unleashed a mental strike at the jester making the red head stumbled back (with a smile on his face) and was ready to do so again had it not been because he found himself receiving his own strike back and becoming suddenly powerless and unable to do so again.

.

-_Interesting reaction "test subject – Nightmare". I inform you that this "Virtual enrichment test chamber and meeting room dream interface projection " is not a dream as I am not exactly sleeping, and dreaming is not a necessity for me to process information, so I don´t . I´m half awake. I too, discourage a violent approach while in this "Virtual enrichment test chamber and meeting room dream interface projection" or wherever I´m near; but I also support your question to "Unaccounted for and unexpected visitor- White_Joker" and remind you that "Unaccounted for, and, unexpected" does not means "unwelcome"._

.

Just dealing with understanding her was tiring.

_._

_- Me? I merely felt that Aria was actually sleeping and decided to check on, mere curiosity you´d say. I´m quite surprised that you control so well this place Aria, but if you are not dreaming then what is this. And please incubus, refrain from such rash behavior, she is probably concentrating hard enough already; surely you don´t want her to focus on stopping you rather than creating this space? Or perhaps you wanna rip me apart like what you did in front of Alice that time? –_Joker grinned smugly and Nightmare had no choice but to accept that he was right, there were many risks he couldn´t control here.

_-You felt?- _Nightmare was unsure how Joker had been able to know she was "asleep" (for lack of a better word) , he was cut by Aria´s response before he could inquire.

_-I am under an induced state of physical rest with partial consciousness. "Liminality state", it is compared to the state of consciousness before falling asleep, a sort of stasis when a person is conscious of their body and its surroundings but is also conscious of being sleeping at the same time. Thus I am rendering this environment. I decided to test communication in such state with "test subject – Nightmare" . Test in process, hypothesis confir…. Arghhh! _

_._

The room shacked and flickered

.

_-Aria! What happened – _Nightmare was worried, Joker was also on guard.

**-T**_wO PluS tWO eQUals tEN, in BAse FOur I´M fiNE! … They are sewing my side gash…. Ouch! No usaron analgesicos.. cara*****! – _That got Joker´s attention and she noticed-_ It´s been a rough night_ .- She said addressing him.

-_You got hurt enough to require stiches? - _Joker looked to Nightmare in a demeaning and nasty way; he was looking down on him as if telling the incubus how useless he and the other role holders were if they couldn't keep her out of trouble for a few hours, a reminder for them that they were all losing the game. On his part, Joker was bothered, he left her and not even a time change later she was stupid enough to get hurt and apparently it was bad, but he couldn´t deny that he was somewhat impressed, annoyed, bothered and anxious. All at the same time.

-_Wait! Are you feeling even when you´re sleeping_? – Nightmare just tough of how painful it probably was for her to feel the stitches on her wound and any other medical treatment, he shivered just by thinking of the needles. – _You should _just rest!

_-I am not exactly sleeping, si? I´m just resting by shutting down some functions, I still have close sensorial awareness. Unfortunately the effects of the drugs and poisons are ending as counter measures are been given. Urgghh…–_She said with a quivering voice. – _I would not risk sleeping completely. _

_._

Both males didn´t know what to make out of this.

.

_-I try to provide a safe testing environment in this "Virtual enrichment test chamber and meeting room dream interface projection " In dangerous testing environments, I try to always provide useful advice. For instance, the induced state is about to end due to the short term effects of the consumed substances that allowed me to induce myself this state; if you remain here for longer there is a high change estimation that you might not be able to leave before disappearing, thus you die. Which would impede further testing experiences. GET OUT OF HERE! –_She said and the place started flickering out of existence

_._

Both, Nightmare and Joker didn´t waste time and left the dream imitation knowing that she was definitely not fine.

.

* * *

.

.

Aria was awake, flashes of memories from years ago were still as present as her attempts to create an artificial dream; she woke up incredibly sore, before attempting to move she paused to think, she had to slow her synaptic impulses to process in order to "think"

.

-_Well... this is fucked up.- _She would have sighted if it hadn´t hurt so much at the moment._  
._

_**(There are two groups from Diamond, one wants to use me to somehow restore that place and avoid Hearts and Clover from disappear too, but who knows "how" they want to use me; The other group wants to kill me because they think Wonderland´s demise will come without foreigners. So going back to my world means that wonderland...! But what about Alice!? Ain´t she here too? **_

_**I probably survived because I was being careful and paranoid from the very beginning. I can use the lullaby as a backup force but I can´t count on them for much, however I can use them to track down those groups, create distractions and provide me for as many supplies I need, maybe I can even use them to fight too... On the other part the role holders are playing the game of hearts... what do they truly gain from winning the game of hearts? Do they even know? Hell, how do they determine when the game is win or lost? Not my problem in any case... **_

_**And what about me? I already have enough stuff to help me once I´m back, I know I told them I would wait till my vial is filled, but... why am I waiting? ... I think I´m waiting to resolve some of the questions I still have, and I won´t solve them until I speak with Alice, but I wont be able to do so for a dew days, at least until I´m fine enough to fight or flee in case something goes wrong with Blood...**_

_**I can´t be sure of anything until I get the last piece of the puzzle otherwise everything are just conjectures. I need to rest and heal, but I need a secure location for it... after what happened tonight...!)**_

_**.**_

_-*******************************! I almost did f***** Vivaldi!_

.

After considering things she decided that heart´s castle was not a safe place with an angry prime minister a possible angry queen (_**I can´t believe I kissed Vivaldi**_), and lack of security with people that wanted to kill her possibly still around. She forced her hurt body to move, took the clothes left for her (the same Vivaldi had provided on a previous occasion) and set off.

As she managed to get away from the castle she was being overly careful when reaching her safe point to gear up with her suit again. Then she got to the lullaby to set some instructions and loaded herself with as much equipment as she deemed. She desperately wanted to know how the weapons worked, but she also needed to find the last info on the puzzle of wonderland. So she gave orders in general while concealing her condition, including to send someone to meet the mirror gang from diamond and to search and locate those who wanted her dead, then she leaved and telling that she would be away for days on her own.

She would go to work in the territories with the role holders for a while during one or two time changes and then she would head to research the rest time changes of the days. That would keep up role holders from interfering with her businesses. She was going to hang out with them.

Of course there was the issue of the group wanting her dead, but being around role holders would sent those a message, perhaps make them think she was afraid and perhaps make them think she was a harder target.

But she wasn´t afraid of the group targeting her, oh no, once the drugs left her system and she was not high anymore she realized just how dangerous she was to wonderland. The realization hit her hard; Chemical weapons, modern combat tactics, superior technology, economic trade which she already had a market share, influence in the territories management…. She had all that and more, and she knew she would not hesitate to use it.

She also knew that role holders were strong enough to contain her, she already had somewhat of a liking to wonderland and it was never her intention to interfere with it in the first place, one of the reasons she ran instead of fighting all the time was because once she actually decided to fight she would go all the way to win and destroy her opponent, she didn´t know how to contain herself, and that wasn´t good because such behavior could leave her opened for other attacks.

.

.

* * *

**LATER ON AT CLOVER TOWER**

.

Aria arrived to work at the tower, medicine and pain killers high on her system, she checked on the faceless and worked on improving processes for a little while, just enough to present some work and to let it be noticed that she was alive and kicking, though not without the faceless murmuring and sending her glances, some of them even asking her stuff before deciding to go and present the proposals to Nightmare and Grey.

Nightmare and Grey stopped their normal routine when she entered. She didn´t look that bad, but maybe it was because she was wearing all her gear plus a new hooded leather coat (which she had taken at the lullaby´s) and they couldn´t really determine how bad she really was.

.

-_Hi Nightmare, hi Grey._ _Work´s ready.–_ She greeted them somewhat dryly and put on her papers on the desk. Then she went to pick up a kitten from the floor of the office and her tone changed to be more relaxed and caring- _Hi Bunsen! How you´ve been you cute thing?_

-_Miuau!- _The kitten responded and started purring at her caresses.

_-Aria! Are you fine? How hurt are you? Do you need anything? Rest a little! - _Grey was over her and carried her to sit down on the couch. - _Sorry! Did I press you too much or moved too fast? _

_-Shouldn´t you be resting? You shouldn´t be here for work, you need to rest!- _Nightmare was surprised that she was even standing there.

.

Somehow Grey had procured a blanket and was tucking her in and the kitten cuddling in her arms making the sofa a bed, Nightmare was already at the side examining her (_**How did Vivaldi allowed her to leave!).**_

.

_-I´m fine! Well, maybe not, but I´ll survive! I just came to work- _Aria was surprised and freacked out more than anything by Grey´s actions, she couldn´t help but find suspicious that she was being treated with care as if she would collapse at any moment. Someone so worried about her wellbeing was someone that either had a lot to gain from her or a lot to lose if she died. She took off the blanket and stood defensively holding the kitten. Her movement causing her a sudden involuntary stir.

.

-_How can you think about work after all that happened at the ball?!–_ Nightmare was surprised and a bit angry with her and with everyone else, including himself.

_-Aria… you should be resting, you are injured_- Grey tried a softer approach. He didn´t miss the slight shake in her attempt to move fast or the slow reaction time, it was obvious she was hurt, sore and tired.

.

_-Gezz.. not you too! Gowland barely left me do some design and calculations for the whole park systems when I went early today. I can't waste time resting, there is much to do. And there are a bunch of things I need to learn, I also need the money_ - she growled back giving Bunsen to Grey and went to the desk to check on the papers.

_._

Both role holders were taken aback a bit, Grey stood and went to get her, he put the kitten back in her arms and looked at her eyes, he noticed her pupils slightly wide from the medicine´s effects. He held her shoulders with his hands in a strong grip.

.

_-Aria… stop it. Please… I don´t know what´s wrong, but tell us so we can help you._

_-(__**There is a lot wrong, but there is nothing you can do**__)_

.

She didn't back down from his cold gaze, but despite not wanting to, she flinched at the strength of his grip even with her suit on and made a mental note to beware being grabbed by him or any other role holder if she ever needed to face him in combat situation, it also served her as a reminder of how bad her condition really was. He noticed her discomfort and relaxed his hold but didn´t let go, in her eyes he saw that there was a lot more that any of them knew, and he felt the tiredness behind her defiance, there was an iceberg of things there, and he knew that things weren't so simple either, she was an enigma so full of vitality and curiosity and will but with so much distrust and loneliness and something deeper that he could not decipher. When he decided to quit being an assassin the job sometimes caught up with him, at some moments he had feel tired of things too. In the past he had also been motivated by the money, but there was also always something more, and he could understand that there were a lot more on her actions and decisions, something desperate and harsh, maybe painful and despairing. Something that isolated her, if he just knew he might be able to help her, but still…. Still he didn't knew if she wanted or needed the help, maybe it was him that wanted her to need help.

.

She was looking him intently on the eyes and started opening her lips to say something when the door opened.

.

-_Hey, Aria disappeared from the castle have you see…. Her? – _In the door stood a tired looking Julius and a smiling knight with his sword ready looking straight at the ex-assassin and about to attack.

-_Miau! – _Bunsen cut in his opinion.

.

Aria released herself from Grey´s grip and petted the cat, then she rubbed her nose affectionately against the kitten´s. She was very tired to even be too rude to anyone and the kitten was just too cute to resist.

.

_-Hi Ace, hi Julius_ –She pathetically tried to suppress a yawn and a spasm from her leg.

.

-_Troublesome woman…._ –Julius said, somewhat angry at what had happened and at how foolish it was of her to be going around. But he was relieved to know she was fine enough to move around and cause trouble.

_-Hi Aria, you look tired _- Ace said with his passive smile.

-_Yeah… I guess I am, can´t be helped really. …mmhh? Ace? Is Vivaldi … angry?_

_-Somewhat, apparently someone left her some hickies in the neck last night and she wasn´t taking it very well._

_-I left her hickies!? – _Now Aria was worried.

_._

Grey and Julius looked grossed out, Nightmare vomited blood and passed out and Aria didn´t know if she should worry about Vivaldi being angry or about Vivaldi liking what she had done (even though she stopped because she was dragged to get medical treatment).

.

_-WHAT!? –J_ulius and Grey SCREAMED AND Nightmare fainted.

.

-_ WHAT? I got drugged, hurt and high. After the bloodlust and main treats disappeared a bit of libido was activated along the blood flow increase. First I actually remembered "him" before fainting for some minutes and then Vivaldi looked hot, ok? I may have kissed her and tried to …. Well, before I got medic treatment…- _Aria looked away but the ones really uncomfortable were the males (_**Author note: Did you heard that? It's the sound of male ego´s crashing and breaking) **_

_**.**_

_-Well, seems like I´m done here, see´ya later.- _She said and went to the door to leave.

.

The role holders were so surprised by the kiss with Vivaldi that they didn´t register her small slip about "him". She rolled her eyes and tried to get away but Ace and Julius were in the way. Her eyes suddenly widened and turned to Julius.

.

-_You didn´t touch those clocks, did you?-_ She asked Julius a bit worried.

-What clocks are you … - Julius started but Ace interrupted.

_-Nha, when we examined the place this morning the corpses were still there. It was quite a sight, their deaths ought to have been gruesome, except for the other clocks over the pools of blood… _– Ace smiled, somewhat content that she had worried about Julius and somewhat bothered that she had kissed Vivaldi of all people. Maybe she was interested in girls, but then she had only played them badly and had distracted Julius from him and him from Julius and his own doubts for nothing. He needed to know what was her deal before killing her.

-_You mean those 3 corpses we found?_ – Grey asked the kanve.

-_Nah, I mean the other twenty something left at the end of the castle grounds–_ Ace replied with his usual silly grin. The deaths of those faceless had been horrible. He had personally seen the bodies, a bunch of them had no wounds, yet the bodies were in poses that denoted horrible suffering. He then turned to Aria– _You did that?_

_-They were trying to kill me, I defended myself. It´s not as I had anything else to defend myself with. – _She raised her shoulders un- preoccupied. –_Besides, they made the committed the seriously bad error of getting me angry._

.

Ace and Grey had suspected it before, Ace was a bit more sure that she was not like Alice when faced with danger, but she wasn´t infected by "madness" either. They feared she would. A couple times it had happened that foreigners faced with the violence and continue death of wonderland couldn´t take it anymore and went on a rampage far more violent than those they had seen in wonderland, stopped only by their own deaths . However, more worrisome to them was that a foreigner was fighting on her own and had survived (_**true, she was hurt but still**_…).

.

-_Can´t be helped. Having someone trying to kill you must have angered you. – _Julius patted her in the head while looking away.

-_I didn`t got angry about they trying to kill me –_She deadpanned- _, I got angry because it's VERY insulting that anyone would care more about my vagina than my brain._

_._

The reactions from the role holder´s were a mix of horror, disgust, anger, disbelief and concern (except Ace, he just looked shocked for a minute and then smiled again).

Ace felt a bit more at ease, maybe the Vivaldi thing hadn´t been on purpose, he remember someone mentioned "red hot" used on her, but still it had been bad of her to worry them like that. And Julius was affected too, the way he had patted her head had not escaped him and he didn´t know if feel jealous or if he should hug her between him and Julius. He needed to keep this weird foreigner in check, she was messing with them worse than Alice did. _**(Hadn´t I told her I wanted to hire her too?)**_

Ace pullet her by the arm and told her something in the ear.

.

-_You´re hiring me for what?_ –Ace told her something else – _HOW MUCH!? JUST FOR THAT! – Ace nodded happily - You´ve got yourself a deal._ **^_^**

.

Aria waved goodbye to Grey and Nightmare regained consciousness while Ace pulled Julius and Aria by the arm dragging both of them to the clock tower (actually he got lost on the second door and Julius led them back to his office).

.

* * *

.

**Another long chapter and things are starting to convey together. Role holders are finally suspecting that there may be something going on behind the game they are playing, Aria acknowledged that she might just be the most dangerous thing out there besides being in danger herself and might be getting unsure about things, and the lullaby might be getting very protective of their boss, perhaps too what about that misterious man from her past, do you like it?  
**

**Who knows what is worse, if Vivaldi is angry because Aria dared to almost do her or if she is Angry because Aria didn´t went through with it. I don´t know which is scariest.**

**How do you think each role holder will react to the recent events? and what about when they find out some of the things she´s not telling them? what do you think Ace hired her for?**

**Review and tell me.**

**.**


	25. Chapter 25

**.I still have the problem of ffnet erasing the break lines (thats why I use points to separate them). But has anybody got problems not receiving updates or review messages in the email and such?**

.

* * *

**CHAPTER 25**

.

_-Surprisingly… 87 points!- Julius proclaimed after taking a sip of his coffee._

_-Eh? _

_-I´m rating your coffee. Quite frankly I tough it would be terrible._

_-Aren't I full of surprises? _– Aria said taking a sip of her own coffee-_ Why would you think that? _

.

Julius took a moment to ponder his answer. An image of Alice serving him a mug of coffee came to his mind. Her sunny and warm smile with the homely look of her apron over her blue dress, or the cuteness of her night gown, a cute and nice girl that ended up leaving him for the hatter; The image faded over and left Aria in front of him with her inquisitive and smug look and her edgy image and posture that let others to know that she was not one for girly stuff.

How could he put it? … maybe… (_**If Alice was a comforting sight, Aria was a daring one… could that be it?**_)

.

_-You don´t exactly look like someone adept at cooking. _

.

Just a little earlier that morning Ace had appeared telling him that Aria had disappeared from the castle. Julius noticed that Ace was not being his normal happy obnoxious self and when he confronted the knave, Ace confessed that it had been his fault the failed security at the ball, Julius took his wench and hit the knight in the head with it, instead of dodging or parrying Ace had taken the hit and had promptly stated that he didn´t mind it rough if it was with Julius (that had earned the knight a second hit).

Then he and Ace headed to clover tower to ask if Nightmare knew of her whereabouts (the knight was more lost than usual and Julius had to guided him), Ace also informed him that the medic that had attended Aria had mentioned that her injuries were more than the gash and a bunch of small cuts, she had been poisoned, drugged and had received multiple hits, probably acquired in a nasty fight and had ended up losing a couple litters of blood too.

In everyone's opinion it was surprising that she came out alive by her own feet from such an experience, a miracle if they considered that she was a foreigner, that she had been alone and that she was not wearing any of her things at the ball.

.

-_You´d be surprised…_ - She said and took a sip of her own coffee.

-(_**I already am**_)…

.

.

They had found her in the incubus office and Ace had hired her and dragged both of them out (he would refused to even think about she kissing Vivaldi , and he also didn´t want to think that they had found her looking as if she had been about to kiss the lizard). Once back in the clock tower Ace told her he´d like to "play" with her sometime (but the word "play" had been VERY open to interpretations) and left to go back to the castle and inform she was … not fine but at least alive and in the move by herself again.

.

_-Anything else you need? I´m not used to deal with analog technologies, but perhaps I can help you out a bit, Mr. god of life._

.

Ace had hired her to help him out in clock tower a bit and check on him (she had given her standard "no loyalty included" and "under my disposition" clauses), whatever motivation the knave had for that, Julius didn´t know and didn´t care much, he also didn´t know if feel grateful or bothered by it. In any case she was here now and her coffee was not bad, and he knew he would be getting many more clocks soon because of the recent events.

Julius took a sip of his coffee. He had heard her singing while she prepared a snack and coffee for both of them, he couldn´t identify the language, but he had enjoyed the little distraction (even if he complained about it aloud and about her weird thing of distorting her real voice). He didn´t doubt she could perhaps help him a bit, but it was his job to deal with the dead and he feared that she would end up experimenting on the clocks or something (_**Author´s note: She totally would**_), besides, it was a nasty job for a foreigner to get involved with, even if she was not what you´d expect of a foreigner.

He was about to answer her when he noticed she was deep in tough. Her lips twisted in a sort of pout; It was not his business, but he couldn´t deny that he wanted to know, perhaps it was related to what she had passed through after the ball, he did felt a bit guilty about it as none of them had helped her.

.

-_There's nothing else you can do right now_**.** _If you´re tired you can use the guest room from last time - _(He refrained from calling it "Alice´s old room")It was obvious that she was a lot more than tired, she was completely beaten. And he had figured it out that comparing her to Alice was bothersome to her (_**Author's note: finally someone figured that one out!**_).

_-Thanks, but I still have stuff to do… so I guess that I´ll be on my way. _

_-Stuff so important that you risk ending up dead on the road? –_Julius didn´t like that she was risking herself like that, she was hurt and needed to rest and recover.

_-I won't end up dead, not here. I will remain alive by whatever means I can till I go back. In fact the only times I have gotten hurt had been situations involving role holders. You guys are bad for my health. But even so, I guess you aren´t that bad. And I did say that I would let you play your game until the vial fills-_She smiled lightly and softly-_ So I guess I´ll have to keep endangering me by being near you._

_._

That didn´t help to ease Julius.

.

-_Can you at least tell me where you´re going in case something happens?_

_-Where I go is my business, but I guess I can tell you… I´m going to visit Joker and then find a secure place to hide and rest._

.

That hadn´t help to ease Julius either, on the contrary.

.

_-You should avoid Joker if you are so worried about your safety. _

-_Why? Don´t tell me that **** about Joker being dangerous, EVERYONE here is dangerous. Tell me exactly why? What happened? –_She was too tired to be angry (_**the energy pills effects are wearing away faster than expected**_) and was too tired of people not telling things straight.

_-He is the one that punishes those who break the rules of the game, and he is brutal and merciless in doing so, he has no compassion or consideration for others, and won't stop from torturing you just because you are a foreigner. He is NOT part of the game, he no doubt will try to end it because he can´t participate in it.-_Then he hesitated a bit before continuing- _ In the prison he mentally tortured Alice with the most painful parts of her past, with her doubts and fears and… just stay away from him, it's for the best. –_ Julius tried to explain to her.

_-Is that all?- _She raised her eyebrow and showed an unimpressed expression while her hand unconsciously went to one of her earrings and played with it.- _You´re making him look as if he was somehow bad or something._

_._

_-Do you even know what the game is about? –_ Julius couldn´t help to wonder… Where they playing the game and she wasn´t? Was she playing with them? Where all of them being played by Wonderland? What was happening with this strange foreigner? Was there something else going on with her? Could he perhaps persuade her to at least rest here for a while?

-_Someone told me about it…, I didn´t understand it. But maybe I´m starting to realize that the game is important to Wonderland. _

_-What do you mean? _

_-Forget it, it doesn´t matter because it is not important or useful to me… But I know it is to you guys… don´t worry, until I am sure of things it doesn´t matter._

_._

For a moment Julius was reminded of Ace, she wasn´t lost, but she was misleading and making others lost. He didn´t know if like it or loathe it and there wasn´t anything he could do about it either.

She moved at her own pace regardless of anyone else and her pace was perhaps too fast for anyone to catch up with her, they were taking one step forward when she had already gotten away leaving them several steps backwards. But still, she also stopped every once in a while for them to try and catch up. It was troublesome, she was troublesome.

.

_-Remember when you told me about Diamond? Did anyone from there managed to get to clover or hearts before the contact was lost? - She suddenly asked._

_-Not that I know of… why?_

_-Nothing really. Just thinking about it, that´s all –_ Julius knew she was thinking too much for it to be nothing, but for what little he knew about her she maybe was interested only in "scientific" purposes.- _Foreigners are weird…_

_-I wouldn´t know for all foreigners, but I sure am. Has always been like that… _ W_hat do you think of foreigners? Why do you think we come here? _

.

Julius was thrown of the curve by the question, was she talking to herself or was she really asking him? He took a moment to contemplate.

For what everyone knew foreigners were precious persons that sometimes graced wonderland, they were supposed to be kind and loving, they valued life and theirs couldn´t ever be replaced . The beating of their heart, a real heart instead of the poor imitation of the clocks wonderland provided, was a sound everyone in wonderland longed to hear. But he barely knew anything else, maybe Aria was an exception or something, the only time he´d seen her more "foreigner like" was with that kitten (_**if you don´t count she was calling the kitten "such a cute little test subject")**_ , otherwise she was far from being like Alice… but it was also true that they barely knew her. And he wasn´t sure if he wanted to; he did, but he didn´t want to see anyone part and leave alone again (_**like my friends and family did when I was young, like Alice did…**_).

As for why foreigner came to wonderland… he didn´t have a clue, it had always seem to him that it was wonderland that called Foreigners. Alice had been brought by Peter, Aria had come by herself. Was there a difference?

.

_-I think foreigners are troublesome. I think you aren´t meant to be here. As long as they have their hearts foreigners will never belong here, they will never fit in this world…_ _But where your home is and what path will you take is something you have to choose for yourself. You in particular are very troublesome_– He said as her curious gaze was focused on his own eyes –_Don´t endanger yourself so much. You can´t be replaced so don´t be so reckless._

.

She blinked and then sighted, her expression changing as if she wasn´t sure which expression was appropriate, in the end it settled into a timid awkwardness.

.

-_I have no problem with that._ _Not even in my world I ever truly fit. It´s been many years since I had a home anyways...-_ She then smiled tiredly at him –_ I´m not reckless. I try the approach with less risk, it does not always work, and I rather face a moderate risk when it is small enough and I have the advantage rather than let it take me by surprise when it´s too big to handle easily._

_-Moderate risk!? Aria! You got drugged, poisoned, kidnapped, beaten, slashed and almost raped! - _She recoiled from the surprise of the sudden outburst from the normally calm man_ – Don´t you understand how dangerous this world is for you!? – _In a more calmly voice he said_ - You can depend on us too. _

_-Is it because I´m a foreigner?- _Julius didn´t even need to answer for her to know that the answer was "yes". _- Julius I can´t. I know you all "love" comparing me to Alice, yet no one seems to understand how fundamentally different I am from her, the only difference you seem to notice is in the physical appearance- _she started- _For what I have find out (__**and Yes, I did my research about her**__) she has managed to survive only because someone has always been there to help her, she´s a burden that always depends completely on others. NO! DON'T SAY ANYTHING! Let me finish! – _She said when Julius was about to start protestingfor how she was speaking of Alice –_ Compared to her I am stronger, way more capable and far more resilient and self-sufficient. But compared to her I am also far more vulnerable, I know it perfectly well, no one understand it better than me! I´m far more vulnerable because I don´t have anyone to help me, I have nothing but my own resources. I can´t trust anyone and I doubt anyone can trust me. I can only depend on myself, putting my life and probably even my dead in someone else´s hands is risking whatever I still have left, which isn´t but my death and the life I still carry with me. How can I depend on anyone when all encounters with anyone end with me risking my life!_ _I´m alone in another world, a foreigner to it, and it´s just a break for when I go back to my world to a country that is not mine either, I´m also a foreigner there and have nothing but myself. I know I will never fit anywhere, It had always been that way and I. don´t .care!_

_._

Julius was surprised, nor he nor any of them have given it a second though to many of what she´d told him just about, right now he just understood so much about her and her situation. And it seemed desperate, she had lost her life two times already, once in her world and the second when coming to wonderland, she had no one, no family and no friends; he at least had Ace (which was kinda sad) and he had his role, no matter how bad it was he did have it. She was just desperately trying to survive and to live and she was doing it the best she could.

_._

_._

* * *

_. _

She had arrived to the circus grounds but Joker was not around, so she had set up to the prison.

She looked around and immediately knew something was off, maybe she hadn´t been in the place on many occasions, but experience told her so. She had been on (or had been caught up in) raids, urban combats and ambushes to know it very well. She equipped her helmed and gas mask securing it better with her hoody (_**Authors note: Look for the image of "resident evil operation raccoon city vector" and "resident evil operation raccoon city four eyes", her improved attire is like a mix between those)**_, she raised the arms of her coat and activated her devices and started advancing keeping a close watch on her screens. It was out of question synchronizing with her devises, she was too tired and hurt to sustain the stress of it.

_._

_-Fuck! Maybe I should have rested at clock tower – _She took a charm from the bangle at her wrist and transformed it into a mini-UZI. To her it was an old type of weapon, equivalent to the ones produces at the ends of the old XX century, but with a fire rate of 950 rounds per minute and an effective range of 100m, the one-handed submachine gun was very useful for close spaces, like the corridors of the prison _(__**If I use firearms I will alert anyone of my position… but I ´m in no condition to engage in direct combat either). **_For a second she pondered the fact that most weapons in wonderland also existed in her world but were limited to certain time periods, just like tango… she dismissed the trail of tough. She needed to concentrate.

.

She advanced through a couple of empty cell blocks, away from the entrance and from what could be considered Black´s living quarters and administrative area. There were no prisoners, no afterimages and so far no Joker. She was nearing the entrance of the next cellblock when her sensors detected something more than a dozen dots approximating to the intersection point in front of her, when the dots got on range she saw that they were a bunch of prisoners some still had the animal masks, she let the arms of her coat return to their position covering her arms on so she could hold the gun better and shot at the floor in front of the attempting escapees to halt their advance.

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_-If you return from where you come I´ll do nothing. If you come this way I´ll shot._ – She told them.

_-Lets us pass!_ – One prisoner demanded.

-_You can try taking another route, I will not interfere, go back your way or you´ll have to face me. Face me and I´ll respond._

_-YOU! You´re working for that monster!- _Other prisoner said.

-_ You have it wrong. The only monster here is me._

_._

Aria pointed her gun at the prisoner that had said that, however an electric jolt in her back made her move in time to avoid a whip crashing where she had been not even a second ago, unfortunately even with the next´s electric jolt impulse she wasn´t fast enough to avoid the next hit dealt by the other Joker that had the grace of landed on her injured side and the strength to send her crashing against the bars of a cell and her UZI away from her hands in in reach of the prisoners.

The hit had been so hard that she lost her breath and vision for a moment, no doubt her wound had reopened. Another jolt put her on the move to avoid the next hit, allowing her to put some distance between herself and one of the Jokers; both Jokers were wearing warden´s uniforms, given that the one who had gone past her to get the prisoners behind the wall of the intersection that were keeping him at bay with her UZI was cussing as if his words could actually hurt someone, she knew that the one she was dealing with was White.

White was not in prime condition, his uniform´s left side was partially burned and his leg was bleeding and a bit charred; but she was in no condition to fight.

.

-_JOKER YOU ******* ****** *******! I´M GONNA ********** DISECT YOU AND IT WONT BE JUST FOR SCIENCE! –_She screamed at him getting ready to follow with her threat, knowing well that he was very capable of killing her. But if she was going down it wasn´t going to be without a fight.

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-_**A**__R__**I**__A!_ – Both parts of Joker halted in shock. – _**Y**__O__**U**__ S__**T**__U__**P**__I__**D**__ F__**O**__R__**E**__I__**G**__N__**E**__R!_

.

For a few seconds all that could be heard were the murmurs of the prisoners and the sound of many of them running away the way while one covered their scape with the sub-machine gun

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* * *

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**Things aren't looking good. **


	26. Chapter 26

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**CHAPTER 26**

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* * *

**BIGGS´S POV**

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I have to get stronger. For the boss! I don´t care that I´m only a faceless I will do everything I can for my/our mistress.. err… the boss!

I´m sure Wedge feels the same. We have been buddies since forever, it´s amazing that we have managed to survive for so long, especially in a business like ours. I was really desperate when the old boss was killed and his clock was not found, I knew we wouldn´t last long, and in a moment of sudden inspirational despair I suggested that we should let the foreigner be our boss!The old boss gave her all the important stuff anyways, maybe she had given it to Wedge just for safekeeping, right? RIGHT!?

That one turned out really well once I found her and convinced her to be our boss! **:D** (_**Ok, maybe I begged and bugged her**_ _**till she accepted to at least come and listen to us… not that I mind begging her -w- **_). And now we are getting very big and powerful without anyone noticing, we even have a name! , it was in her honor, that was the least we could do to acknowledge her. Of course for her safety we only pester her calling her "boss" when we are alone and only those of us who have been with her since that fateful night at the last ball when we got the wrong foreigner that turned out to be the right one.

Since then we have followed all her orders as best as we can, I admit many of those orders had been at the very least strange if not straight nuts to us, but she does know what she´s doing and it has let us far. She has lead us wonderfully and at the same time we help her in whatever we can; sometimes I think that she is facing too much, that there is a lot she keeps to herself and it bottles up, Wedge and I and everyone would like to do something but there is little we can do about it; she was right, we were weak, we are still weak, we are mere faceless… that night when she kicked me to the ground so easily… (_**I wont deny I kinda liked it…but only because it was her. I also like when she trains us, she is so… competent, so strict and always teaches us in the hardest way until we learn… she is our strength, who woul have tough a foreigner could be so strong!?**_ made me see how powerless I really am, and let us see how vulnerable she is against roleholders … and that is why we must become strong; I must become even stronger if she ever needs me to fight for her.

Wonderland makes minions like us be faithful to our bosses, like dogs are loyal to their masters (_**woof! … Were we like that for the old boss**_?) maybe… nha, it's more of an inclination really, I guess it is like the force that makes everyone love the foreigner (_**maybe we are extra loyal because we love her too?)**_ , but… it's a lot more than that for us the lullaby, even before she was our boss she was friendly and kind in her own way towards us, she didn´t cared that we were faceless, she is amazing, so far we own her our lives, our strength, our name, everything really.

I don´t want her to go when her vial fills, I don´t want her to go and give her heart to a roleholder and leave us either, but what can we do? **:(**

It does not matter, She can count on me, that´s why I´ve been training nonstop, and since she is with us I think we have gotten way stronger, now few can match me here, maybe its just the wonder of being near a foreigner… I think once I heard something about how foreigners make those who they love and associate with stronger but I can´t remember well… never mind. I just need to get stronger even if it is because that´s the only thing I can do.

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* * *

Wedge and I went to the second location after we (forced) sent the boss to the ball (_**she had looked so hot and cute pouting because she wanted to study the weapons ^w^**_). I made a note to get the blacksmith to show her about the weapons once she gets back(_**who would have tough that in her world things could transform into weapons?! **_) . We arrived at the location and we listened to what they wanted, they also knew that the new foreigner was working for us (_**Fools, but that way the boss identity as our boss is safe.)**_

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* * *

**FLASHBACK**

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After we discussed what they wanted they offered a "partnership" in businesses, we´d told them that our boss would consider it.

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_-One more thing. It´s about the foreigner working for you …_

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That caught our attention. Wedge was dealing with the negotiation, I was there to hear it and become the main muscle if needed. We remained silent to let them continue.

.

-_We know that the second foreigner is working at some of your bars, giving you music and even giving dancing lessons every now and then._

_-So? She leases us exotic music and we let her gain some extra money by allowing her to use the places to give dance lessons, we then get more clients that learn to dance the rhythms she teaches, Big deal._ –Wedge said as if it was nothing, obviously no one has a clue of she being Berceuse.

-_We want you to keep an eye on her, we´ll pay you well for the vigilance._

_-And why would you want that? She is not with any role holder if that´s what you want not know. It would be too much of a costly effort to keep her surveyed_ - Wedge had become crafty thanks to the boss´s lessons, I know he is trying to get more information.

-_Precisely. Because no role holder is taking care of her she is an easy target and it´s on our best interest to keep her alive. You see… there is another group that wants the foreigners out of the way. Your last boss in fact made a deal to get a foreigner for us but he failed to do it at the last role holder event and it was this other group that attacked your base last time thinking that you had achieve it. _

_- (__**WHAT?! Was that why we were sent to capture Alice at the last ball?**__) _

_-The last boss is dead and whatever deals he made too. _- We can´t trust them, Wedge feels it too, they are hiding something…. –_ Why would anyone go for the foreigner, it's not as if they are that useful._

_-Let´s just say it´s for the well being of wonderland to keep the foreigners alive, for now…_

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* * *

**END FLASHBACK**

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We retreated to consider the meeting´s points. Wedge and I discussed what we would do with what we learned…

The boss came briefly the next morning. She looked bad… like REALLY bad, she went to load herself with all the gear she had ordered and a bunch of weapons turned charms, she took some pills from her suit and prepared some kind of beverage, she said it was an "energy drink", I didn´t like it, I knew she was pushing herself too much.

She gave us orders and told us she would be back in some time turns, we couldn´t even tell her all we found out!

But at least she knows someone´s after her.

.

-_What are we gonna do? – _I asked.

-_That´s obvious, we´ll do all we can_! –Wedge said and I agree **)**

.

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* * *

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**WHITE´S POV**

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I have been restless since I felt that small ping in my clock after the ball, when we finished dancing with her we felt it, it was the same we felt at the prison that made us consider attending the event. It was my counterpart that identified it as the sensation of when Alice won (by luck or when I got bored and let her win) against me during April's season and I were obliged to chance the season. It was the pull of a pact or deal that needed to be fulfilled and it bothers me that I don´t know why or what exactly.

We leaved as soon as we finished dancing with Aria. The looks we received from the other role holders after she left for the gardens were just too funny; disbelief, hate, jealously, despise, anger, disdain, worry… it was hilarious! Have it not been because I have good taste and are quite the gentlemen we would have mock them even more, but as things were we leaved the same way we came to deny them even a word from it. **XD**

We have barely arrived to our territory when we felt that strange sensation again, but it was somehow different… hazier, perhaps? Somehow I knew something was going on but didn´t knew what, I had a hunch and decided to intrude in someone´s dreams so that ***** incubus would show up, I had to mock him personally anyways. What a surprise it was that I sensed something that was not a dream, but I already knew something similar from when Aria was vegetating happily after meeting me.

Her babbling terminology was bothersome to follow, but like with Black´s continuous cussing you learn to get pass it, or ignore it. And how hilarious it had been to see Nightmare get spanked by the girl with his own attack (_**Unexpected but not unwelcome… how cute) XD . **_Oh, and her growl of pain had been… I dare say interesting, she sounded angry for someone being sewn alive… maybe I should try opening and sewing someone alive sometime….

.

-(_**But why her condition bothered me?)**_ - I knew my counterpart was slightly worried; she was somewhat of a drinking pal or something already. Not that we need company but her presence is a break in the daily monotony of our life and at least she has been amusing for us and still has the potential of being more entertaining than Alice ever was.

I also wonder how far I can take her before scaring her, but then… it´s not as if I´m going to see her anytime soon, she´ll probably be recovering for a while (_**foreigners are so weak… so my dear counterpart will have to wait a lot more to play with the toy)**_ and even if she wanted to get around, role holders would probably keep her from doing it (_**and then they would be breaking the rule of free transit for the foreigner and I would have to punish them of course ^_^**_)

.

As soon as I left her "_Virtual whatever chamber and bla,bla,bla dream, jargon something" __I showed my counterpart what had happened in there__. _

As expected we were not amused by it, someone had dared to break the rules again by attacking during an event. Our fine night had been ruined! We could have gotten home and have a nice rest but no…

Black (_**When did I actually started calling my other self that?)**_ changed his clothes and left to get back there and catch the culprits. I on my part changed too into warden´s clothes to go and vent some anger on the prisoners, I could already feel their fear and expectation.

* * *

Later on I was strolling down a corridor in the deepest cell blocks when I heard an explosion, I went there immediately only to be caught by surprise by another explosion at my left that got me by my side, the flying metal bars of the cell it had originated hitting my leg. Black was back and transported to where I was. He of course mocked me for getting caught like that and helped me move around. It was embarrassing but I needed to use my other self as support.

We heard more explosions in various zones and decided to check the cellblock we were in and then go back to the entrance and move from there inwards catching anyone trying to reach the stairs. When we reached the entrance we heard gunfire. We saw someone´s back, from his heavy gear he was surely the culprit of the **** mess. Black dropped me and we went straight to get the *****. Amazingly he managed to evade Black´s whip but was too slow to avoid my attack , the **** at the very least should have some ribs cracked. His attempts to gain distance were futile. The asshole had been carrying a mini machine gun and it had landed as a gift in the prisoners hands, Black knew I would take care of this ******.

.

-_JOKER YOU ******* ****** *******! I´M GONNA ********** DISSECT YOU AND IT WONT BE JUST FOR SCIENCE! –_She screamed at me.

-_**A**__R__**I**__A!_ – I realized it was her, and I must likely just broke my toy -_**Y**__O__**U**__ S__**T**__U__**P**__I__**D**__ F__**O**__R__**E**__I__**G**__N__**E**__R!_

_._

* * *

_._

I…. Why am I not reacting? I.. for a second… I was shocked! I was .. what I was… was that being scared? Was it worry? Guilt? What is this?!

.

We were paralyzed for a second, we heard the prisoners murmur among themselves and then they getting away; it was my counterpart who reacted fast, probably because of the gunfire directed at him. But the gun fire was a distraction for they threw another explosive towards my way that sent Aria and I to the floor. Black went to catch the ********* so that I could take her away. But I was still in shock.

How could I care that I hurt her?! My shock was not from hurting her, but because of the reaction I had when I did so.

I was on the floor and I turned to get up. She too was trying to get up but was struggling to do so. I knew she was at the end of her strength and resistance, probably conscious just by sheer stubbornness; yet she still wasn´t giving up and was moving her hand, reaching for something on her belt.

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_-You´re trying to kill me too? _– Her breath was ragged, her hood had fallen back and I could see she was still wearing the past Joker´s earrings. I noticed the slight trembling of her voice - _Why?_

_._

We both stood up, but she looked about to fall back_. _She would be so easy to kill right now... I should, but I can´t...?

_._

_-I wasn´t trying to, you were just in the way… Hit me if you want_ – (_**Yeah, hit me and get even, settle it so that I can stop feeling this horrible sensation.**_ )

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She remained silent; a couple of convulsions shock her body. She just stood there in silence for a few seconds that lasted too long, her hand getting a hold of something at her belt.

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_-Hey… I ever ask you to help me move a body would you help me?_

_-What kind of ****** question is that!? – _Black said from trough the mask_.- Get her out of there Joker_

_-Yes_- I replied just like that, and knew it was not a random question – _But you´d have to ask nicely._

_-…. Fuck…. I confirmed it_…damn it- She shook her head _-What happened to your leg? –_ She withdrew her hand from her belt and got near so that we could use each other as support for walking… ironically in the same way she had helped my counterpart when they meet.

-_Just an explosion__** - **_She didn´t say anything, I didn´t know how she was even conscious in such state. I could hear her heart beating madly. – _What was that question about?_

_-I wanted to know why I decided to not attack immediately. I had a hunch as of why, so I needed confirmation… Friends help you move on. Good friends help you move on the bodies. – _She said as we moved back to Black´s living quarters. -_And weather you like it or not._

_-That´s got to be ******* dumbest shit I´ve ever heard, you ****** *******! - _Black voiced my thoughts.

-_Well, you ****** *****_ , _You can also measure a friendship by how much you can insult and be insulted without taking offense. And for some ******* shitty combination of occurrences you are the ***** closest thing I´ve had to a friend in years…. That´s just plain sad, ain´t it? _

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* * *

We got to the room she had used last time and we dropped ourselves on the bed. She took off her gas mask,I helped her took off her small backpack, coat and vest. She pressed the screen on her arm and ran a "status check", she growled tiredly and unlatched the middle part of her suit (_**It can be removed by parts?) **_as she lay on her back exposing her midriff. It was covered in blood, and a nasty stab or slash wound was open and bleeding, the stitches were still in place,but it looked nasty and smaller cuts were also in various parts among the purple marks of many hits. To put it nicely she was a bloody pulp, I could only imagine how the rest of her body was. And wondered how she managed to get here (_**Are those imbeciles still so lovestrucked with Alice that are so willing to let their second chance die?**_)

With effort she moved her leg to take something from one of her many compartments; she got one pill, a small jar and some sort of wet piece of very thin cloth from a package which she too passed me motioning to my leg. She used it to clean her wound and the blood started sizzling and generating bubbles.

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-_What is this_?

-_Antiseptic cloth and cationized gelatin hydrogel that enhances epithelial wound healing- _She greeted her teeth, finished cleaning the wound and threw the cloth to the floor.

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She couldn´t open the jar, she didn´t have strength left for it.

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_-May I?_ – I took the jar and opened it. It had a gel which I applied to the wound on her side, it started forming a sort of plastic film over the fleshly gash that soon stopped bleeding.

_-… use some yourself, just don´t waste it. I can´t restock on that… It´s a synthetic biodegradable hydrogel that creates cellular bridges to accelerate scarring process and tissue renovation... and stuff._

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She saw my questioning look, but misinterpreted as me questioning the substance while in truth I was questioning how she was enduring. I´ve tortured much people and few manage to sustain so much damage without even crying.

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-_What exactly happened Aria? _

_._

She swallowed the pill before answering.

_._

_-As Julius put it… I got drugged, poisoned, kidnapped, beaten, slashed and almost raped… It does sounds kind of bad now that I listen to it again… By the way, since it´s your fault that I can´t reach a safe point to lick my wounds and rest I´m gonna freeload here for a few days… – _She waved before going unconsciously asleep.

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**END POV**

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* * *

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**ALICE POV**

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-I should apologize to her.

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I got up ready to leave and look out for Aria, I had been very rude to her at the ball. Even if I couldn´t have helped it (_**maybe she doesn´t even have anything to do with.. J-Joker…).**_ I also haven´t seen anyone much lately and Blood is being way too possessive. I do need a break from it and maybe I can amend things with her and do become friends, I need a normal female friend.

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END POV

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* * *

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Alice leaved the mansion without telling anyone in search of the other foreigner, she didn´t want Blood controlling her or Elliot and the twins keeping her from leaving. She took care that no one saw her and went on her way. She wanted to see her friends and maybe make a new one.

Unknown to her a group of faceless from Diamond were planning something.

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* * *

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**Aria finally reached her limit and deemed someone a friend (sort of), even if he like sit or not XD . But of all the people it had to be Joker (facepalm), and now she is unconscious and at his mercy, and White is not exactly liking the fact that he just might consider this intruder a sort of important plaything, maybe even a friend too. He has never got one, so he wouldnt know. Would someone come and "save" her? who? (seriously, if you´d like to see some fluff tell me with who.)  
**

**.**

**Alice is entering the picture by herself and there are a bunch of things going on in the background that roleholders aren´t even aware of. And there is A reason why Alice is so traumatized by Joker, and it didn´t happen in clover or hearts (hint, hint). What would the faceless of Diamond be planning? uhhh!  
**

**.**

**And what to do you think about Biggs and/or Wedge? and the mysterious stranger she recalls? what could have possible happened to him? She says that she´s been without company for years, and this stranger (that looks like the dodo or viveversa but no one knows so yet) was apparently VERY friendly ;)**

**.**

**REVIEW AND TELL ME! :)  
**


	27. Chapter 27

**.**

**CHAPTER 27**

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**FLASHBACK**

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It could have been morning, mid-day or afternoon and it wouldn´t have mattered, the ashes filled up the sky demising the light to a grayish tone in all towns and cities in the area. Luckily they had managed to reach a city bordering the defined radius area and would be able to get on the move unsuspected fast and soon.

Meanwhile they had rested, checked all their equipment and set it to its bets conditions, they would need and they knew it.

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Not but a few hours ago they had ambushed a field communications convoy that had been better armed than what their contractors had expected. She had synchronized with their opponent's equipment and had turned it against them while her partner dealt with the left over organic components called escort soldiers.

They had of course looted all they convoy and soldiers had been carrying, but as she had synched she had gotten a hold of a bunch of encrypted instructions and orders regarding certain cargo at a certain ship that certain male mercenary had to get to really fast before the operation started far earlier of what he´d expected. Revising the information, they confirmed that an imminent attack on the ship he needed to board had been orchestrated to destroy its precious cargo and then get it from the port waters; after contacting some informants and hacking some nets they confirmed it without a doubt. The owner of the ship had arranged a distraction attack near the port while the ship got away and the preparations for the attack were already in motion, international laws be dammed, motioning to a new stage of the war.

After this a state of exception was sure to be set and total war would be declared from all the countries of this block. Blockades would be established and companies would cohort the governments into a terror war against itselves, so getting out from the country would be very hard for a mercenary with clear physical traits from an enemy block.

However it would also open up the opportunity for her to enter the portuary naval base´s systems and get all the codes she needed to access and control the nuclear missiles from the launching site (and all those in the same net, around 200 missile nukes in total). It had been a while since she decided what she´d do, she didn´t told her partner, but he suspected it and they knew their goodbye was drawing to a close.

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* * *

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Andrick Jeloudov had her against the wall kissing her neck with desperation and trusting into her with a fast and strong pace as she moaned in ecstasy (screaming things like "_Mathematics!", "Biology!", "SCIENCE!")_ her legs tangled around his waist with a strong grip and her arms around his neck and broad shoulders for the needed support and her eyes closed enjoying the moment at maximum.

He gazed at her bare breasts clashing against his naked torso, he tough she was beautiful and he would have liked to see her more without her suit (or anything else) and explore the circuitry designs engraved on her skin, to follow the trail of the lines with his fingers and tongue; the sound of her real un-distorted voice turned him on and reminded him that this moment was set aside of time, a drop of eternity that would soon past, and that will just leave him thirsty in the end, he knew that probably this was their last change for anything, so he´d have to make every precious second of it count for both of them.

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* * *

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The two mercenaries were over the roofs of the ports hangars running, running for their lives and running out of time. Soon they reached the control barriers and stealthily got past them as the distraction attacked they had set to cover up the distraction attack the owner of the cargo had set had worked and they encountered little opposition. Still, they had little time to waste, the military had pressed for their own attack and the ship was already getting ready to sail leaving them running to the breaching point. There was no time for subtlety, they had to open their way guns blazing and explosions ensuing.

They made it to the piers control room. She checked the controls and ended up synching and taking control of the net to open all the closed doors, security safes and open sea doors and closing those that they had traversed already, all security systems were reporting with "no changes" to prevent more authorities to interfere and the ship´s crew was under alert that they had free range to leave as soon as certain mercenary with the oceanic floodgate hatche´s password boarded the ship.

She also made herself a free road to get to the naval´s base and get what she wanted along a safe passage to get out of there, it would not last long before someone noticed, so she had to get on the move fast and keep herself synched with all the devises of the port.

They looked at each other as sirens ran loudly in the back, the diversion had been discovered and military reinforcements were probably on the way already.

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-Come with me gurl… - He already knew the answer, but he still had to ask it, to plead it. It was even stupid of him to ask it, she needed to reach her other destination to open up the floodgate hatchets and let the ship reach open ocean while he ran to get on board before the ship was attacked. There was no time to waste.

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She sighted and shook her head. No words were said for a few moments until he took a hold of her chin and pressed his forehead against hers.

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-_Don´t die uselessly, make life and dead count._ _Uvidimsya, Pochemuchka … (Until we see each other again, person who asks many questions) _

_-Proschay Andrick P__roschay_… soldier of fortune... (Good bye forever )

_._

They separated and ran on different directions, none of them looked back past their shoulders. There was nothing more to say. He reached the ship and the ship got on open ocean without a problem, she got the codes she needed and escaped without problems getting on the way to her final destination. Time later she received a call, only so few people had a way contact her. That was Andrick Jeloudov´s last call. Soon after,the ship he had boarded was said to have been attacked and sunk on international waters upon the guise of carrying biological weapons.

.

.

**END FLASHBACK**

.

* * *

.

Aria woke up as her stomach growled demanding food. The soreness of her muscles barely let her get up and only after a few tries. She adjusted her suit to a minimum and went to find the kitchen. Not only was she hungry, but she found herself in need to either discover why she had followed that particular R.A.B.I.T. down the hole of her memory.

.

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* * *

**BLACK´S POV**

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.

I had been nicely sleeping like a ****** log when the distant and faint smell of food being made woke me up along the drilling noise of music.

.

_**-(Wait….) **__! – I got up and went to find what the ****** ******* was on._

.

I hadn´t sleep much as I´ve been trying to catch all those ***** that managed to get away. And now I also have to deal with the rumors those *** spread about the foreigner facing me to allow them to scape! As if!

.

* * *

.

**FLASHBACK**

.

I left my counterpart to get her out (danger) my ******* way while I chased the all those *******. I could feel that my counterpart was more shocked that I was. I had almost killed ********** her *********!

.

-_You´re trying to kill me too? Why? - _By the mask in our belts I could hear their conversation_ (__**So those ***** had tried to kill her. Here, in MY domain! No one kills ****** anyone here but ME!**__ ) _This enrages me so ******** much!

_. _

_-I wasn´t trying to, you were just in the way… Hit me if you want_ – My counterpart was confused and I felt a horrible sensation that was stuck in my gut, if I didn´t knew me better I´d say was guilt.

_._

_-Hey… If I ever ask you to help me move a body would you help me?_ - She randomly asked

_-What kind of ****** question is that!? – _ I just avoided another explosion _- Get her out of there Joker (__**What the ******** ****** are you waiting for? You **** clown!**__)_

_-Yes_- White replied while I was busy avoiding another string of gunfire – _But you´d have to ask nicely._

_-…. Fuck…. I confirmed it_…damn it- ( _**What the ***** did she hit her head too hard!?)**_ I transformed my whip into a gun, two more and a bunch left for me to get_-What happened to your leg? _

_._

I felt the ***** pain on his legs demising a bit as his weight was being supported by her, just like when I met her, how ironic to find myself in such situation.

_._

-_Just an explosion__** – **_For what my counterpart was feeling he was still surprised and confused– _What was that question about?_

_-I wanted to know why I decided to not attack. I had a hunch as of why, so I needed confirmation… Friends help you move on. Good friends help you move the bodies. _

_-(__**HUH?)**__ That´s got to be ******* dumbest shit I´ve ever heard, you ****** *******! - _(_**WHAT THE ********* *********** ?!**_ ) I intervened (_**FRIEND!? IS SHE NUTS!? WELL, ***** YEAH, SHE IS) **_There were a couple more explosions from different zones.

-_Well, you ****** *****_ , _You can also measure a friendship by how much you can insult and be insulted without taking offense. And for some ******* shitty combination of occurrences you are the ***** closest thing I´ve had to a friend in years…. That´s just plain sad, ain´t it? - _That was meant for me_ (__**Aria you ***** *******) **_

_._

I went to take care to the closest cellblock were I heard the *********** explosion, knowing that by when I reached the other damn places a bunch of ******* prisoners would have scape already, so I directed my afterimages to the surface to catch those who manage to ******* get away. But even so, I know those ****** things will not be enough to catch all.

.

-_What exactly happened Aria? – _This is so ***** bothersome! Why are you even here, dammit!

.

Is my counterpart... worried? That´s new.

.

_-As Julius put it… I got drugged, poisoned, kidnapped, beaten, slashed and almost raped… It does sounds kind of bad now that I listen to it again… By the way, since it´s your fault that I can´t reach a safe point to lick my wounds and rest, I´m gonna freeload here for a few days…_

_._

_**(WHAT THE ******* ******** HECK?!)**_

_._

**END FLASHBACK**

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* * *

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I arrived to the kitchen and saw a very surreal image.

.

-_Joker… come here, right now…._ – I told my counterpart, I didn´t even use insults.

.

He transported himself to the prison and look at what I was seeing. Music like the one she sang at the karaoke could be heard, it apparently came from a little box she had set on the counter **(author's note: look out for "sarishinohara" in youtube, the neglish version**).

.

_...Behind the door separating our two worlds_  
_I wonder if you´re consumed by loneliness_  
_oh oh Do you ever wonder if life is still worth living_

.  
The table was set up for 3 persons.

.

_And though it all I will always love you so_  
_Even if we could never be again I know_  
_The past is haunting me and it hurts me so_  
.

She was moving something over the stove and giving us her back as she swung her ass and shoulders from side to side in rhythm with the music and singing (_**Or at least *** trying to, she was so ***** sore she could barely move and her voice sounded off**_).

.  
_Now my spirits are quite hard to destroy_  
_whenever I imagine you by my side_  
_Find me waving from the front row_  
_At the beloved smile thats beaten the world_

.

Her suit looked a lot less bulky, it had not all the external plaques and had only one arm attached to it, the upper part it was connected only to the lower part by the spine thing that latched perfectly on her skin as if it was part of it. I could see the purplish marks of hits and the corner of the slash on her side, partially covered by the frilly pink apron my counterpart had forced me to wear one time when I lost a bet to him.

.

_Go ahead dismiss all we have been through_  
_I know your mind is set on fulfilling your goals_  
_Let the passion light up your soul _  
_and radiate through every inch of yourself_...

.

She turned around and saw us and turned off her music box. She looked creepy with those dark circles under her eyes and that bloody apron (_**How the ***** is that ******* still here!? Didn´t I burned it?).**_

.

-Breakfast?

-It´s night- I said.

- Dinner?

.

Without waiting for an answer she turned to whatever she preparing and finished it while we took a seat she served the food. Surprisingly the food looked and smelled very good, it was a sort of egg custard with cheese and spices I have never seen or tasted. However she had only a beverage; she took out a couple of papers with the print of strawberries and started munching on one.

.

-_I didn´t poison your quiché…_ -She said when she saw we weren't eating.

-_Then why aren't you eating it? –_My counterpart wisely asked her.

-_ I can´t stomach much of anything solid right now, so I´m gonna try this strawberries and the milkshake first._

_-That´s a ******** piece of paper- _She rolled her eyes, tore one of her papers and passed them to us. Then smiled as smugly as someone so beaten up could.

-Enjoy it, its not something I can restock either.

.

My counterpart took a lick out of the **** paper and I felt the flavor of strawberry. I took a bite and I was surprised that it did tasted liked a real strawberry, not even the ***** artificial flavor of candies, it tasted real. Her ******** smile widened at my expression.

.

_-My.,. would you perhaps like to lease the recipe for this too?_ – My counterpart saw a nice business chance.

-_Impossible, there is not enough technology in this world to even get half of the components needed to process the ingredients. That´s a soy based edible paper and the edible ink has the added vitamins and minerals that a real strawberry has, so its equivalent to eating one. The vacuum process also makes it able to last for a long time…! _- She suddenly flinched.

_-Should you be awake and moving? - _ White asked, he didn´t like seeing her not resting, we were for some reason bothered by it.

-_Of course not, but I needed a bit of more standard sustain. My kidneys are probably too damaged already and I don´t want to risk them failing from processing too many soldier pills or medic drugs or anything, I´m not even under painkillers right now… _ - She looked at the plates she had served us- _I assure that is edible, I even used some of the spices from my world that I carry around. Besides I already had my change at killing you and let it go._ - A bit of guild built in my stomach and I took a bite of her dammed food (it was actually fine).

_-If I had answered "no" what would you have done –_ My counterpart was curious at that, I didn´t care, I was busy eating; most likely she would have tried fighting him and she´d be dead now.

_-I would have disabled the cholinesterase from your system and since I don´t know if killing one of you kills the other or not I would have set a few traps for Black too anyways, then I would have run to grab some stuff and before anyone got to me I would have gone back to my world while wonderland plunders into chaos. –_ She answered, emotionlessly but nicely.

_-Y__**o**__u t__**h**__i__**n**__k y__**o**__u c__**o**__u__**l**__d h__**a**__v__**e**__ en__**d**__ m__**e**__? _

_-Nha, I can´t defeat any roleholder, much less you. I was going to use something that would have killed you and anyone who stepped into the room in the next 6-8 hours, I was about to unleash nerve gas… the variety I was going to use causes muscles to start to contracting uncontrollably, this eventually (around one minute from exposure) causes death by suffocation since the diaphragm is a muscle….- _ _**(****** *********** ***** she was serious … and **** sincere!) **_I don´t know if give her credit or get mad_** – **__But hey, it was a rough night… and then a rough morning, then you tried to kill me... twice. I hope you got whoever gave those explosives to the prisoners and retrieve whatever they were looking for._

_-What do you ****** mean?-_She looked at us with suspicion and then with surprise.

-_Don´t tell me you didn´t noticed? Joker… I think its fairly obvious and you probably already know it, but… someone gave the prisoners the explosives and told them exactly when and where to detonate them. In my experience that was a planned diversion, normally to retrieve something, what? I don´t know. Maybe they wanted someone?... I´ll be up in a few time changes, I can help you determine the type of explosive and the route they took, maybe even where the explosives came from. Right now I need more rest._

_-That´s nonsense – _But I knew it was no, it actually makes ****** lots of sense. Whoever planed it knew I was not here and made it so that both of me would be busy chasing the ***** prisoners… were they looking for some especially for a ******** prisoner or was there something else..? I´ll have to check anyways…

.

She suddenly jerked back, her eyes getting a red and then green light and I felt that ping in my clock again.

.

-Sorry, I´m keeping myself awake via electric shots on my spine and I accident synched for a second in my secondary mode.

-What do you mean by dear? – My counterpart was very suspicious.

_-I´ll tell you but you have to tell me or better yet, "show me" what you did to that Alice girl. I want to hear your side of the story. – ( __**She wants to hear it from me**_?) I smiled, she doesn´t trust the roleholder´s words. They ***** deserve it.

-Yeah, sure, whatever, now explain yourself ****.

.

She rolled her eyes and answered.

_._

_-It means that I expand my being and my will on nearby devices. It doesn´t matter much in this world, so it does not matter if I tell you, I can extend my consciousness to digital devices and whatever analog gadgets they control, they become part of me or rather I become all of it. Of course it also means that my own body is no more than just another device and I have to concentrate on keep it functioning. On the main synch I can control big networks and in secondary mode, like you saw just now, gets limited to just whatever´s in an arm's length. You more than anyone should know what is to have your mind in more than one body, however my mind is a combination of binary impulses. You already saw a bit of it actually, remember the lights system at "the wolves den"?_

_- And what the ******* does that have to do with the red and green gleams in your eyes?_

_-Oh, those are lenses, night vision via green shades, motion detection, target lock-on, object focus…. However they hurt and itch when I activate them and are very easy to detect when I do so, so I avoid doing so. Well, see you later, I´ll go and sleep for a couple time changes and then I might help you around._

_-Sleep well, you do need rest, but before you go… can I check your earrings?_

_._

She took off the earrings and passed them to White, he examined them and even tried a trick or two but they didn´t react at all. He passed them back to her and she put them on, got up and leaved us to go and sleep _**(****** slacker, now that I remember she needs to work for me)**_.

.

_-Why doesn´t those earrings react to me when whatever that synch thing she does makes them react? _

.

(_**Could it be that the communication masks count as a ****** device**_? _**But then why does it reach me? Could it be that… OH FUCK!) **_I finally understand where those jolts in my clock had come from. Whatever she did, that synch thing caused a reaction with the past Joker´s earrings and the earrings were somehow connected to me. (_**But why would those….?... **_Both of me understood it at the same ****** time. _**.**_

_**.**_

_**-************************************************* ************************************************** ************************************************** **************************************!**_

.

Sudden realization fell over me like a ***** ton of icy water. Those earrings weren´t just communicator masks, those were a connector! And when I let her keep them in exchange for that dance she sealed a deal with them, but because those don´t belong to a living role holder it somehow echoes to me because of my rol! F***** ********!

.

-It means that I am under a contract. Or rather she is in a contract with me.

-But which *** kind?

-Don´t know, but it would be wisely to accept her friendship. Is that why this toy dared to think she could be friends with me? That´s like a sort of alliance, a contract…, right?

.

I **** facepalmed. It shouldn´t be possible, a ******* connector, the lifetime promise and bond a roleholder can offer to whom they love the most becomes a simple object when it´s roleholder dies…. How can it react to her…is it because she is a ****** foreigner?

.

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END POV

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* * *

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**ALICE POV**

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I didn´t know where to look for her. But if I visit the other territories I will probably encounter where she is staying (or with who) or ask someone. Since it´s been a while since I visited anyone I wasn´t sure who to visit first, probably the amusement park would be a good start, I can see Boris and Gowland, besides, later on I might not be able to do so in peace as I could stumble with Blood´s territory negotiations or with the twins slaking off with Boris.

.

Boris and Gowland were happy to see me, we went on a bunch of rides and Gowland proudly showed me how he was working on a new system that centralized the controls for all the attractions and lights and everything, he had already built the "command center" and hidden it around and bellow the mirror house, I didn´t understand much of what he said, but he looked really happy and proud of it. I was surprised when he said that it was Aria who designed the basis for it.

.

-_So Aria is working for you?_

_-Yep-_ Gowland was beaming, he probably was very happy to have the other foreigner here, which means He, Boris and Pierce have a change with her. Maybe she is already with one of them. **:)**

_-That´s so good, can we go see her? _

_-Ehh… no, we can´t.- _Boris ears were flat against his head – _She isn´t staying here._

_-But isn´t she working for you Gowland? _

_-Yeah, but she is also working part time for everyone –_ Gowland scratched his head

-_Then where is she staying? I would like to speak with her -_ I was confused, she was working here but not staying here?

-_We don´t know, so far she appears randomly in the territories, works and then disappears - _Boris was having difficulties to explain things to me

-_Then who is she with? – _That was an easier question right?

-_No one, or maybe everyone?_ We don´t know what´s going on with her either – Gowland didn´t seem sure.

_-You mean she is alone in wonderland!? _

_-More or less… - _Gowland wasn´t explaining either.

.

That is disastrous! There is so much danger and violence in this world, she could get hurt very easily! hasn´t any role holder been there to help her?

A new heart´s game with her is going on, right? Why isn´t she with someone? Could it be that they don´t want to get involved in another game? Is it because of me? But I already chose Blood! My game should have ended. (_**authors note: yes Alice, because everything revolves around you….. sarcasm test complete.**_) I need to find her.

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END POV

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* * *

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Aria woke up a couple times and did some work on paper to determine possible escape routes from the prisoners for Black or attraction distribution based on neuromarketing for White, then she went to sleep more.

She woke up again and went to check on the circus to get a bit of fresh air, however she found a huge ruckus. One of the big tends was on fire and people were having trouble controlling the emergency. White was not around and no one could find him in the surface, since for some reason everyone was too afraid to go and get Joker from the prison she volunteered to find him.

Rather than wasting time looking for him she asked an after image to take her to him (_**couldn't those idiotic clowns even do that?! **_). The after image seemed a bit surprised that she had addressed him/it and paused for a second before motioning for her to follow. She was led to another underground level that looked more secure than the upper ones she had been in (of course she had activated her sensors to map the little tour she just took around the area she hadn´t even noticed existed). Soon, the echoes of screams could be heard and the afterimage paused to look at her and attest if she was still following, which she did unaffected by the sounds of human agony.

She was motioned through a dark corridor towards a rusty but firm metal door. The after image stopped and she continued the few meters left. The screams could be heard interlining a conversation muffled by the heavy door, she wasn´t paying attention to what was being said but she knew the voice belonged to the Jokers, if she had paid attentionshe would have heard:

.

_-What do you think if we cut this other one up, Joker?_

_-AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!_

_-I´d say we can better slit here, Joker?_

_- AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!_

_-Too much noise Joker, we better cut off the tongue!_

_-AAAAARRRGGMMMHHHH…..HHHHHH!_

_-Just put a gauze that this ******* does not drown in his own blood._

_._

Aria opened the door.

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_-White… a tent is burning and they can´t find any suitable way to put it off…._

.

A couple clocks were in the floor, human remains were in the ground and disappearing into the dark matter that composed afterimages, too many and too old blood stains everywhere showed that the room had been used brutally and constantly along months or years, chains hung from one of the walls a table with torture instruments were nearby and ready. Joker turned to looked at her with surprise, slight fright ran though his spine at being caught at his worst by the foreigner that had actually befriend him; between both of Joker, a man was bleeding to dead, he had lacerations and piercing wounds in very sensible areas, punch marks everywhere, a broken rib very noticeable bellow the skin… one of the jokers was forcing a dirty gauze in the mouth of the man, the other had a human tongue and some rusty big scissors in his hands. She looked shaken and surprised too, he expected her to turn around and run away from him.

_._

_-….. When you finish… can I have the body to examine it?_

_._

_._

* * *

**.**

**Is she for real?! She stumbles upon a gruesome torture and she wants to play with the corpse? O_o Or maybe it´s something else…**

.

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**And that´s how her involvement with that "soldier of fortune" ended. Since then she hasn´t really got involved with anyone.  
**

**.**

**-Uvidimsya – This more or less means : "Until we see each other again"**

**-Proschay – Is used when you aren´t likely to see someone ever again, and thus is like: "Good bye forever"**

**.**

**And another person surprised that she can cook XD that probably was awkward for Joker, someone preparing something for him that was not poisoned. And yeah, she carries some spices around because food can be really crappy from where she comes from and anything that makes the taste better is worth carrying around. **

**.**

**The idea of the connectors comes from **peekodemeeko12 (she has awesome stories), **so my version of those may be different from hers. **

**You can say that a connector in this story is like a mix between a wedding ring and a genie lamp/enchanted something or whatever magical object is bound and bounds some creature/person. And when the roleholder that it belongs to dies, those object loses all its magical(until someone scientifically explains it) properties. And for some weird reason it resonates to the present Joker as if she had made a deal with the role itself rather than the roleholder. Maybe there are more lost artifacts from Diamond and Spades.. **

**However I don´t think neither Aria nor Joker really understand what friendship is about.**

**.**

**Oh, and she told more or less how she can synch with machines, even analog devices to a small extend ;) However she has not really explained it, right? But she will, and will also explain what is going on with her brain/mind. **

**.**

**Anyways, Aria is not on the general scene and Alice is going on her own and now looking for her, I guess that will give another perspective or incentive for the roleholders. **

**.**

**REVIEW PLEASE **


	28. Chapter 28

**.You should re-read last chapter as I made changes (like adding the name of the soldier of fortune)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 28**

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**WHITES ´POV**

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I had been torturing one of the prisoners that managed to escape from the ones that I recaptured. I´ve been on a streak doing this all morning after the nice breakfast my dear foreigner "friend" prepared just for me while she sleeps or works on some very useful and interesting stuff for me. Of course I´ve interrogated these scumbags and learned that they believe that Aria was there to help faceless escape from my lovely prison, some even go as far as saying she is the one who orchestrated that… such bad rumors have to be stopped and punished.

.

I had just cut off the tongue from this fifth when the door opened surprising us.

.

_-White… a tent is burning and they can´t find any suitable way to put it off…._

_._

Aria was here; she was looking at us and catching on the scene, her eyes widened in shock and surprise. (_**Now she knows… and she´ll get away, she´ll run and never return and her so called friendship will prove to be just a ***** lie!)**_

_._

_-….. When you finish… can I have the body to examine it?_

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I was speechless as she got close to examine our prisoner.

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_-A bit ragged but perfectly fine for a test subject…-_ she turned to look at us and pouted cutely– _So… can I have it when you´re done? Pretty please? With sugar and a cherry on top?_

-I guess….- _**(Did her mind collapsed? Maybe it´s the madness from wonderland infecting her.)**_

-_YOU´RE THE BEST BOSS EVER!_ –She jumped forward, hugged Black strongly and kissed him in the cheek and then did the same with me. She then turned around giggling and saying something about proper tools and biological risks. At the door she turned around again to face me.

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_-White… Fire, tent burning, they need you….-_ and off she went strolling down the corridor. Her giggling turned into a full blown mad crackle and truly monstrous evil laughter that left both of me unmoving before I reacted and transported myself to the circus to fix whatever shit was happening.

.

I put on my mask in my pocket so that no one upstairs heard whatever happened bellow, and once I dealt with the situation upstairs I made an inspection around my circus and finally noticed what was missing, she had called it a diversion, and it to my fury it had worked, they took the mirror I had that connects with the mirror my counterpart has in the prison.

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**END POV**

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-So she arrived in wonderland and no one found her for so long!? Did you even look for her?

-We waited for her to appear, foreigners tend to visit the territories on their own. But she was quite paranoid about everything and avoided all contact with everyone for a while- Nightmare told her.

-If she doesn´t want anyone finding her then it´s impossible to find her- Grey added and passed Alice a cup of chocolate and a coffee to Nightmare while taking his own and sipping at it.

-(_**Grey probably looked for her**_)But can´t you ask her in her dreams where she is? –Alice was confused.

.

Nightmare shocked his head and exhale smoke from his pipe.

.

-He did try, and some of the others too. And I also tried entering her dreams, but Aria is not what you can say your average girl, somehow I can´t contact her.

-What? How is that possible?

-I would really like to know that.

.

After Alice leaved the amusement park she went to ask Nightmare about what was happening, but Nightmare didn´t seem to know much either. However he told her that she had been working for him and most likely for everyone else, however she wasn´t staying with anyone.

.

-So none of you knows where she is right now?

-She is most likely with Joker right now – Julius appeared on the office.

.

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**BLACK´S POV**

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I entered her room and found her lying on her bed after she took a bath to wipe out the blood, once again she had disassembled her armor to keep it light and exposed her midriff to help her wound heal better. She had her eyes closed and was listening with her earphones to that small music box she had used in the morning.

I seated at her side and although she sure felt my weight she didn´t react, so I hovered over her exposed belly, her skin was pale but the swollen areas were still purplish red, her wound still had the stiches but whatever she had put in it had formed a thin transparent plastic crust and was disappearing along were the wound was healing, but it seemed that it would still take several days till the stitches could be removed.

All along I saw very thin, almost imperceptible markings of lines and points engraved into her in a pattern that mimicked what I saw of her suit; those seemed to have been carved and burned in a very precise way over her (_**does she has this **** everywhere? Was she referring to this?) .**_

I let my tongue slid across her belly with delicacy around her wound, I felt a single shiver coming from her body when I did so. (_**I ******* made her feel bad and that made me feel ******* bad, if I made her feel good again then I will feel good again**_) Then maybe I can then get rid of her afterwards and not feel this ever again. And I know how to make her feel good and make me feel good too )

.

-_What are you doing?_ – She didn´t sound amused (_**believe me ****, you´ll be amused soon and I´ll ***** be too**_) , I raised my head to look at her and let her see me lick her as she took off those **** things from her ears, the volume was loud enough for me to listen to it.

-_Although saliva is somewhat aseptic there is no need for this. So stop it._

-_Oh, that was not all in my mind, during our little drunken adventure you told me that I could lick your clit**** - _I licked again and moved my hand to her hip.

_-I don´t remember that_ – She deadpanned and slightly incorporated herself.

_-Doesn´t change that you said it… - _I tried to pull on the pants part of her armor_ - *****!_

-_My suit does not like anyone else but me, well… its more of my DNA print in it; hands off_ _or it will probably shook you more_ – She pulled my earring to push me aside and I complied **** grudgingly . (_**Can´t she **** see I want to make her feel better!**_)

.

We just lied there and I thought of what had transpired earlier.

.

* * *

**. FLASHBACK**

.

After she left us there and my counterpart left to see what the **** was going on she came back wearing all her gear, including her mask and goggles, I put the **** ****** I had been torturing over a table and let her have her way with the prisoner so that I could see what she wanted. She took one of her things and moved it over the body, in the screen I could see that the image of the man was overlapped by a representation of the organs of the human body (_**Author's note: autopsies and medical training augmented reality with a tablet**_) she moved it to the neck and moved the head to get access to the base of the neck, with an scalped I had lying around she made a perforation and a cut that made the body stop moving, however the man was still whimpering despise the rag in his mouth.

.

_-Are you trying to ease the pain of this ********? _

_-No, but examining a living body it´s easier if it does not enter in shock and dies or if it keeps moving around. Cutting of the nerves and causing paralysis will facilitate the biopsy._ – She didn´t even looked at me as she merrily continued her examination while speaking to herself in a foreign language.

-This is so fun, one of the things I never studied much was medicine! So I´m learning a lot right now **:D … **_maybe I should change my last name to "Mengele" ? NHA… Too mainstream._

.

Soon she was opening the body to see how clocks worked and scrapping of the skin of the face too see how faceless could see or there were eye sockets below the skin. I would not admit it to anyone, but when she asked me if roleholders were born with eyes or if we were just faceless that got eyes or what and if she could examine my eyes, a ***** shiver went through my spine and I got angry.

First she *********** came and interrupted me, she dared to be fearless of me, she played with my prey without paying me attention and now she compares roleholders to faceless! (_**She is the **** toy here!)**_

I smashed the skull of her ****** "test subject" making blood and brains jump over her. Then I smashed her against a wall holding her by her throat raising her so that her feet were centimeters above the ground… I was too fast for her...No! She ***** detected my attack, she ******* let me attack her! What is she *** playing at!

.

_-Who the ****** ****** do you think you are s****? _

_-You ****** know it already. Aria Hadron Scherzi. Foreigner. Mercenary and science geek. At your service for the right price, "Boss" - _She spoke with all the *** calm and cynicism in the world_  
_

She put her hand on my arm but didn´t do anything, I know she is **** capable of at least try something to defend herself (_**Why aren´t you fighting back?)**_

_- Black, I really don´t want to fight you. _

_.  
_

**_(You little piece of *********)_**

.

_-Do you find my little playroom nice? What if I play with you here? – _I applied more strength to her neck and used my other hand to hold her shoulder and keep her in place without forcing all her weight in her weak neck. I thought she was about to cry by the noises she was making, but she laughed softly.

_-ha,ha …. Black… I have seen many places that are way worse than this! You don´t know the amounts of shit I know about or all what I´ve seen or the amount of things I simply know, in general. _

_-Perhaps I should torture you too like I did to this ***** .- _I signaled with my eye and moved a bit to let her see what was left of her "test subject"_  
_

_-There is nothing you can gain from me with torture; I made sure that I knew what the worst tortures felt like so that they would be useless against me. Electricity and I have a long story together if you know what I mean. I know which nerves transmit pain and how its transmitted, I can stimulate them for maximum effect to "feel" what´s like to be burned alive, dismembered, skinned, pierced, maimed, burst, melt…. All while not harming the body so that it can continue feeling for a long while…. –_ I knew she was smiling behind her mask_-I know it so well... I can even switch pain and pleasure. _

_._

_Her voice got serious._

_._

_-And I know that because I did that to myself and it´s nothing compared to what would happen to me if I get caught in my world…. Thanks for remind it to me, you ********* jerkass! – _she relaxed her neck as if she was averting my gaze-_ As for why I´m not fighting you back…. if I do I might kill you or both of us, if I fail to do so then you´ll fight me and I´ll probably die or kill us both. Is a lose-lose situation. In any case I lose a friend and maybe my life and **** everything goes to hell. Amazingly I do think before acting._

_._

_I removed my grip and she slid against the wall __**(I can´t ***** believe her!**__)._

.

_-Did you really do that to yourself? Are you **** crazy? _

_-Yes I am, but I´m also ****** rational and prepared for the worst. There just so much ****** shit that can go wrong, so much that went wrong …. There so much….! Forget it…. It has nothing to do with you or wonderland anyways…. But now that you ****** reminded me of it I might be all depressed and mussing about that for a while…. Don´t worry I won't bother you for long, I might be able to get on the move in a couple time changes and I better do so before someone gets another change to kill me._

_. _

She then examined the pieces left of the corpse and took off the clock from the chest of the body and held it in her hand It was a bit unnerving how she examined it til I stopped her before she disarmed it. (**_maybe I should hire her as torturer..._**). She made some voice notes in whatever **** language she had used and left me there.

.

**END FLASHBACK**

* * *

.

_-What the ****** made this?_ – I asked her while running a finger along a line engraved in her skin, I received another small shock and I noticed that inside and along the line in the skin there was metal.

.

She turned to look at me before saying anything. I was being ***** serious, the only way you can put ***** metal in skin this way is by pouring melted metal on open flesh, I´ve tried it a couple of times with the prisoners.

.

_-Remember the "electricity and I have a story together" ... – _I let her continue – _My suit, this beutiful multi-layerec piece of high tech has an underlayer of circuity mesh of synaptic processors in a insulation compound, then there is the life support layer and underarmored core with magnetic joint and spinal interfaces for csensory impressions, then there is the outer-armor and combat suffice support and attached enhacements. It is a one of a kind prototype that killed all of its previous test subjects, it killed them because it was designed to transmit signaled orders, but humans normally "think" in an abstract way and machines "process" binary impulses, it gets worse when people include unintelligible and irrational shit like "feelings", which I don´t exactly have... I´ll try to make it understandable, k?_

_._

She must have finaly noticed the my scowl. I ****** didn´t understand a piece of ***** she had said about her suit.

_._

_ -When I suited up for the first time it actually detected my brain synaptic pattern close enough to a machine to create a synaptic connection, I synched with it, and I managed to "tame it" and "train it" to my be in tune with my being, for that I needed to ping it, to send and receive the impulses so that it knew how I "think/process" and how my body reacts. I did that by ordering it to give me electric shocks, of course in the beginning I barely could control the intensity and some the connective lines of the interior part of the suit partially burned and melted into my skin, then to train for combat situations or physical trauma I used very specific electric stimulation on very specific nerves connections. How a burn is sensorialy different from a puncture? How different a burn from cold is from one made with fire? I could simulate all that and I was the only proper test subject to do it. I got very good at it. – _She focused all the intensity of her gaze in my eye -B_ut there is a price for that. Every time I full synch , besides the risks of remembering to keep breathing and force my heart to beat, I risk deleting my own mind and personality, losig whatever me there is still in me or to leave some of it in the systems I trace. I´m aware that I´m an oddity,_ a_nd where I to be caugh…._

_._

She actually shuddered a bit.

_._

_ -Torture would be nothing, in fact it would be desirable to the other alternatives, and believe me, no matter what you have done, what you dear Joker are capable off, it is nothing compared to what they would do. I know it because I would do that too or even worse things._

.

_(__**The *************! You think you´re worse than me?!)**_She then sighted and looked at the ceiling_. _

_._

_-Y´know… I might not be such a good choice for a friend_, and I might even be bad influence for you – I looked at her **O_o**

.

I immediately despised her ******* expression, I´ve seen something similar in prisoners that ***** give up. I kill those ****** fast, it´s useless to torture them any more, they don´t even react. Killing them is just a mere formality, the moment they give up they are already dead.

_-By the way… what did you did to Alice to leave her so ***** traumatized? I told you about me, now it´s your turn to answer._

_-I´ll show you._

.

I tried to create an illusion like the ones I showed Alice but Aria couldn´t even see them, she used some of her gadgets and detected an anomaly in the atmospheric characteristics and some other **** shit, but she simply wasn´t **** affected by illusions to my disgust (**_Damn, I can´t **** use them against her_**), so she agreed to let me enter her mind to show her (**_Let´s see what´s in there when you´re conscious_**).

She pressed some things on her arm screens and then I took off my eye patch.

* * *

It was a room like the one I had encounter when I entered her mind for the first time, but it was slightly different and looked more decayed (**_authors note: think again of the game portal and its test chambers_**), she wasn´t around but her voice was, like what I saw from my counterpart.

I couldn't bring out her fears, her regrets, her memories… **** nothing. And I was really trying too. I wanted to know.

.

-_Aria… why the **** aren´t there any memories here?  
_

_._

I heard her sight and then she materialized besides me. She was wearing a form fitting white and black armor way fancier and more feminine than her real one . (**_author´s note: look for images " p.n.03 Vanessa Z. Schneider" I had looked the image way long ago back when I played with my gamecube, the main character is actually a mercenary, talking about coincidences XD_ **). I caught her and looked into her, this time we were inside her mind, so there no way I could not see what I wanted, still, here weren´t memories as I knew them.

Once again I saw all the images I saw when I first brought her here, all the carnage and destruction. However those weren't memories I wanted to see more.

.

* * *

A strangle blip sounded and she took out one of her gadgets. The small screen on it flashed illuminating just enough to show that she was over an big empty room that looked like some sort of industrial navy. In the screen the face of a brown haired man appeared, he looked tired and his expression softened and beamed when she spoke.

.

_-Andrick!?_ - She was surprised.

-Da. Glad you answered, gurl. - Before she interrupted him, he continued - _I have not much time. Ship actually belongs to a subsidiary of the company we blew hospital bioweapons. I found out what cargo in ship was. You guess what it is?_ - He of course didn´t let her guess- _Its worse than that lab, It is things in adult stages and they have millions of injecting shots and disperse bombs, most crew already infected-_ Resolve was obvious in his face - _Ill blow ship. I send the images and data to you. Please sink them too in land._

_-Do you have a way to scape?_ - He wanted her to use the information against the conglomerates, she didn´t knew how to react at the surprise of finding herself wanting him to survive and be fine, but whatever he choose she respected it.

.

He shook his head sadly but still smiled.

.

-I´m in bridge. _Remaining emergency boats are on the other side of ship and water´s too cold, even running its far and it be sneaky... Ship´ll blow in few minutes and I closed security doors. I´ll try to reach but..._ _Pochemuchka_...?

-_Yes?_

_-Sing for me with your real voice, da? -_ He pleaded.

-_What!? Stop wasting time and get out of there idiot!_

_-You gonna deny this man´s last request? please, sing for me and I´ll run, I´d like one of your old videogame songs. - _He grinned_ -_ _The last fantasy one about melodies and life._

_-YOU FUCKING RUSSKIE IMBECILE !_ - She said but she still pressed the dial in her collar to turn off her voice distorter. He grinned even more and turned around setting up an explosive charge and whatever phone he was using in his jacket with the camera forward so that she could look at what was happening, then he started running.

_**(Author note: The song you must look out for is "melodies of life" from final fantasy 9**_)

.

She started recording the call while the data he had sent finished downloading, she could see his mad run through the ship. Soon he was discovered and targeted, infected crew and bio organical weapons cutting off his way in a few occasion and he managing to trap them in rooms of killing them straigh, but he was still away from the end of the ship. When the screen became full with static she continued singing. Even after she passed the info to appropriate people and hijacked a tv signal to transmit the recording she sang for a long while, old songs that she haven´t sing in many years. She wasn´t aware of it, but she had devolved her equivalent to mourning.

In the following months she took the most dangerous, brutal and (well paid) insane missions. Mercs weren´t exactly known for being scrupulous but she got herself a reputation for being inhumanly brutal. A long-enduring, tough, and insensitive sycho for hire that found it easy to withstand the hardships of campaigning.

.

* * *

Joker saw himself way years back when he was still a kid, he was in another roleholders event with his counterpart, it was his first time at the amusement park. Back then he had gone to have some fun, but it was far from it. Murmurs and hate gazes where everywhere and directed towards him. He didn´t liked it, sure, other role holders were at the very least disliked but the real hatred was directed as him.

.

-_Stupid event! We shouldn´t waste our time with this crap_ -He was upset.

.

* * *

.

A small girl was at a funeral reading a "The renascence for kids" book, she couldn´t understand why people were crying and had those expressions. Wasn´t death a natural part of life? everyone was going to die, so why had pèople been surprised when an old woman died naturally?

.

-Esta bien, puedes llorar si quieres (It´s alright, you can cry if you want) -Her father told her.

-¿Porqué? (why?)

.

She really couldn´t comprehend why people were acting like that.

.

* * *

A young Joker was all beaten up in the floor of the prison after being shot to death. The prisoners had attempted a mass escape and he had been caught off guard, they had been way too many and their share numbers had overwhelmed him. the after images had managed to stop a bunch of prisoners and his counterpart was lying somewhere in another part of the domain as the sensation of his other self dying had made him faint in pain.

He was really surprised by being alive, he wondered what he could possibly have done to be denied to die. Of one thing he was sure; he was going to find the escapees and make them regret hurting him.

.

* * *

_-You should be more feminine._

_-Now what mother? I already agreed to the laser hair removal._ - A teenage girl said with distaste, she was wearing cargo pants and a t-shirt and had been reading a physics book when she was interrupted - _I don´t care about looking pretty, I care about being practical._

-How are you going to get a job in a good office if you dress like that!

_-Why would I want a stupid "Godinez" office job when I have the knowledge and skills for something better than that. If I´m gonna fuck myself up the rest of my life in a shitty job at least I want it to be something I like and not something that will give me a mid life crisis and make me wonder where my life went wrong and useless._

_-Keep your comments to yourself, what would people say if they heard those stupid things!_

_-Why would I care about what people say, people are a stupid beast whose IQ = the most inteligent person in the mob / th number of people in the mob. People are normally uncultured,lowly idiots that doesn´t know the difference between Botero and Boticelli. Most people are nothing more than meat for the grinder, cattle for the kill house. They are breastfeed lies that they embrace and get drunk in banality so long as they don´t face the reality of the world. _

.

She then put on her headphones and got out the room to go and read in a more quiet place without being interrupted.

* * *

.

A teenage Joker was looking at his counterpart practice balancing effortlessly on a big ball in the middle of the arena in the circus. He was playing with a whip and had the nice idea of turning it into a gun to shot the ball. His counterpart managed to land gracefully on the ground.

.

_-What was that for?_

_-Im bored._

-_You can always help me in the performances and with the circus... Or you can go back to your dark den and brood there in angst at your loneliness._

_-Who said I was lonely you idiotic clown!_

_-I know, I´m you after all. _

_._

The warden didn´t answer, he would never admit that sometimes being alone was worse than simple being boring. But there was nothing to do about that, people avoided him like the plague and for good reasons. He was already very good at beating prisoners to dead.

_._

_-I´m bored too, life´s so repetitive and dull... I know!_

_._

His counterpart got very close to him while he was (cough-brodding-cough) thinking and planted a kiss on his other self lips. That earned him the feeling of his own first hitting his other self.

_._

_-What the hell was that you ***** clown!?_

_._

_-C´mon! you said you were bored, I know how we can entertain ourselves - _The jester laughed at his blushing counterpart who transported himself to the prison in a mist of cussing.

_._

_Later on the jester visited the warden in his room in the prison. Maybe Joker was in two bodies because his own company was the only good and sincere one he would ever get. _

* * *

.

_-It´s peoples fault for illegally settling in a lose soil slope and deforestating the natural reserve that they got buried alive by a mud slide when rain season came. Rather than pitying them and wasting money on them you should be (**happy that their stupidity was wiped from humanity`s genetic pool**)_ _sending the remaining alive to prison for breaking the law by settling on a natural reserve soil. - _A younger version of Aria was speaking calmly and suggesting rational but brutal things and a lot of people looking at her with anger and disgust.

.

She was in her last teen years. Her words and plans were logical, rational and seemed monstrous to many listeners who were very vocal about their opinion of her.

* * *

.

Blood Dupre had come back after saving Alice from him and had shoot him several times with his machine gun.

.

_-You know you can´t kill me_ - Joker smirked.- _And it will not be as easy as when you broke the march hare from here._

_-No, but I´ll still try and I´ll bring a smile to me. Unlike Elliot or the twins I am a villian. Even if not as bad as you._

_-You´re truly mad hatter. No matter what, as long as Alice is lost she will always return here._

.

Blood´s machine got shoot him again several more times.

* * *

**CONTINUE BLACK´S POV**

.

I saw her do shit I would think twice about doing (**_I probably wouldn´t burn down a **** orphanage in the middle of a **** city with the kids still inside_**). I couldn't believe that the world of foreigners was like that. It was completely different from what I saw in Alice´s memories;And suddenly I saw myself when I was young but my own memory stopped, I felt a punch and I was in her mental room again with her over me holding me against the floor with her weight and my hands above my head. She had ******** control over this place.

.

-Did you had fun with the show?

-The fuck you bitch!

-Remember that a door can be crossed both ways. But I´m not upset and I don´t understand why you are. You couldn´t avoid your curiosity at looking into my past data and I couldn´t stop my curiosity to see if I could mimic the brain process you were making. We are least I have the courtesy of not following the R.A.B.I.T.

_-What the ***** are you?What **** __Rabbit? _  


_-R.A.B.I.T. = Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers... memories...I am just myself, but I suspect that myself is a condition rather than a state. I AM a person if that´s what you ask. My genetic base is human, but in a human perspective I am an inhuman monster. Too close to being a beast by nature and too close to be like a machine by mind. I´m too rational and will do what I deem without regards of anything and given the case I may act based on the impulse of instinct.  
_

_._

She flickered and then rather than her an over sized leopard was on top of me (a jaguar), she flickered again and it was her once more. This was her mind scape,and she had very good control of it.

.

-_A biological psycho may sound harsh but it means the inability of the brain produce and absorb certain substances that allow the existence of feelings, attachments, regrets, remorse, empathy… I never developed those, I am biological incapable of such, at least in the average human sense and way. I, However developed certain equivalents…. As for the apparent lack of memories, given the way I process information rather than "think it" I don´t require to create images or "memories" of it, I merely keep the data about them. It's like knowing you already read a book and knowing what the book is about but not having a mental image of yourself reading it or a memory of the book per se, although in some cases I can store "memories" , I don´t know how or if they differ from normal ones, that also implies that I don´t require dreams to defrag the information of the day. _

_._

_I kicked her off me._

_._

_-My brain is wired differently than a common one. Why? I don´t know, I am a natural expected anomaly, that random exponential in the equation of evolution. Don´t think about it too much, I´m here and I´m real, and that´s what matters_ _. _

_._

_She then turned into a skeleton that disintegrated into dust._

_._

_-But what is a person really? Now show me what you did to Alice._

_._

I decided that I would let my counterpart deal with her ***** ******. She´s **** right, she´s here so the hell with all the other ****. I showed her what happened with Alice, all of it, and we returned to the real world.

.

* * *

_-Is that all you did? Seriously? ONLY that?_ – She said with disdaining disbelief – _How irrelevant… she didn´t even saw your "play room" , right?  
_

-_Why the ***** do you ask that? Are you trying to back down from the whole ***** friendship thing, bi***? - _Maybe I actually managed to scare her a bit with the **** playroom thing._  
_

-_Never. I didn´t do so in your "play room" and I´m not planning to do so now. But I really don´t have much experience with friendship, I´m too used to be alone and have no social skills, since I always move and go better alone I have a lot of acquaintances but never made long lasting friendships. I wont even be here for long…. But I´ll do the best I can._

_-Why **** friends with me? A ****** foreigner would be sl***ty friendly to those other roleholders. –_ I want to ****** talk about something has given me a ***** headache.

_-Why not? For some **** reason I get along pretty well with you and with White… all of you in general. ..HEY! LISTEN! - She smiled widely  
_

_._

_A=X_

_A+A=A+X_

_2A=A+X_

_2A-2X=A+X-2X_

_2(A-X)=A+X-2X_

_[2(A-X)]/-2=[A+X-2X]-2_

_2(A-X)=A-X_

_2=1_

_._

She smiled **** goofily reminding me of certain executioner that was slacking and probably lost somewhere. Also that was probably the lamest attempt ever to lighten the *** mood.

.

_-Of course the equation should be longer, but: Congratulations, you exist. I just proved it. Mathematically._

_._

_(**What the fuck?)**_

_._

_- Maybe there even is an equation for your participation in the game. I guess it was a good thing that you choose not to participate in the game. I was kinda surprised when I learned that there was a roleholder that could decide to participle or not in the game, But you´re also way to important in to this world to be bothered with that s***** game, right?_

_-WHAT DID YOU ******** SAY!? - _I threw her back on the bed with force and held here there by her shoulders. – _THE FUCK YOU MEAN I CAN CHOOSE TO BE IN THE ***** GAME!? JOKER. IS. NOT. PART. OF. THE. GAME! _

_-Ouch!_

_._

_She reacted fast and moved her legs in a scissor move, one leg crossed my arms and the other my neck, with a lot of strength for someone hurt she disengaged from my grip and threw me at the same time to the floor._

_._

_-You didn´t know!? Don´t roles come with a manual included? Doesn´t anyone in this ****** world ever studies history? – _She was confused but not as much as I – _I only learned bits in old books in Clover and Hearts libraries, there really isn´t much information about some roles; but it happened around the time Spades disappeared, something happened and since then Joker could or not participate in the game, once you decide to participate or not its settled._

.

I knew she was not **** lying, Heck, wasn't today full of surprises?

Someone lied to me. I feel cheated. I already lost 2 ******** games without even participating in them! I don´t **** care about the games but I ********** detest that I didn´t **** knew I could participate! I need to find the jester.

I leaved her there and went to look for my **** counterpart. I looked everywhere but that *** clown was not in the circus and he had ****** blocked me so don´t know where the **** he is! **********!

I felt the pull in my clock and knew it was her doing whatever ******* she did with that **** synch thing! I went back to **** interrogate her but neither she or her ***** things where there.

.

-*******! (**_Someone´s gonna get it!)_**

.

* * *

.

After the warden left her, she had determined that if she could make such moves like the one she used to throw him off her, then she was good enough to get going. She also didn´t want to waste time with Joker and explain to him what she had found, it would take too much time and effort to even attempt to, she may consider him more than an acquaintance but that didn't mean she trusted him. And if the one in charge of enforcing the rules of this world was not aware of all the rules, even the ones that regarded him then there was probably a lot that roleholders might be unaware, and probably the faceless from Diamond were right but what they told her, but that didn't mean she could trust them either.

.

.

.-

* * *

.

**-In the manga Joker has 2 big mirrors, one in the prison and one in the circus and he can speak directly with Black with and its not limited by the masks, it also seems like it can be crossed to reach the prison.**

**-And I guess their friendship (?) is somewhat dangerous, she could provide oh so many new and horrible torture techniques (_she really is bad influence for him, aint she?_), and he have her on edge constantly which is dangerous for everyone. But I also guess they are working it out, unconsciously they are asserting dominance over each other with the whole being on top and having you at my mercy thing.  
**

**-Oh and what she did in her mindscape was simply reflect to Joker whatever he was doing to "see" her memories, so he ended up seeing his own memories and thats why the age comparison between the memory scenes was equivalent.**

**-And I agree with Black,(her attempt attempt at lighting the mood was really weird and pathetic, but who would have said that someone´s existence can be proved mathematically) the day was really full of surprises and information. No wonder he has a bad headache and decided to sent it to hell and let his counterpart deal with it later.  
**

**-In next chap we´ll see part of how terrible she can be.**

**.**

* * *

**To Sam-I-am : keep drinking coffee, its good for you XD**


	29. Chapter 29

.

-.

**CHAPTER 29**

.

.

Aria had got out from the prison after Black had left her, she was very used to suit up really fast and since she always keep her things ready to flee at a moment's notice she was out of there and into a circus tent in no more than a couple of minutes. She was activating her sensors to avoid any inconvenient encounter when a knife went past her head and got stuck on a circular board right behind her.

.

_-Oh, I missed!_ – A small jester boy said with a fake pout.

_-You just need to try again!_ – A small girl came out from behind Aria.

.

The small girl made a fast move to hold Aria wrist in an attempt to put her against the board for throwing knives and lock her there by the wrists in order to use her as a target; However Aria was faster and stronger and more importantly, she was not in the mood to deal with any shit, so she inverted the roles, she got a grip on the small girls arm and raised her against the board locking her wrist tightly with the metal holdings on it and then pulling the girl´s other arm doing the same and leaving the kid hanging from her extended arms trapped. An electric jolt informed Aria of another knife coming her way, avoiding it gracefully by stepping sideways and letting it sink in the girls leg. The mercenary turned around and closed the gap to the small boy with a short run and smashed him against the floor and hold him there with her weight on top of his chest while his back was pressed more and more against the floor.

.

_-LET ME GO!-_ The boy was scared and moving desperately trying to escape her grip.

_-You think I will let an attempt against my life go unpunished?_ – Aria didn´t care that it was a small boy even younger than the "children state" of the Twiddle twins, he had tried to kill her, maybe the first knife had been playful, but the kid had made a huge mistake by attacking her back trying to help the girl.

_-Please!_

_-No. You attempted against my life, now yours is mine to take.-_ She smiled wickedly and the kid started crying from his eyeless eyes – _In fact I will use you to test something._

.

She held her right arm to examine the boys clock as she had done with Ace time ago while she channeled electricity on her left palm (she had modified her gloves like with the ones she had used on the ball) and held it against the boys chest to pass a heavy electric current on his clock by means of electric induction, she had enough battery, but she would have to take a nice walk under the sun later.

.

_-I´ve been wondering what would happen with a clock while it is still inside someone if I get it near a big electromagnet, or better yet, what if I turn a clock into a temporary magnet. _

.

The boy started screaming but Aria took of his hat off hid head and put it into his mouth to muffle the sound and not get interrupted, she didn´t have to do anything to the girl behind, she was sobbing in panic but wasn´t screaming, she was too stunned for doing so as fear had paralyzed her.

Aria recorded the phenomena with curiosity; she would have time to examine it in detail later.

The kid was in deep agony, it felt as if his life was being ripped and his being was being torn to shreds, it was like being electrified while a thousand needles were struck in his tiny body, as if the eyes he didn´t have were boiling in their sockets, It hurt. It hurt so much. A foreigner was hurting him, the most angelic being in wonderland was hurting him, the other foreigner had been "saved" and dismissed them when they had tried to play with her, he just wanted to be close to the foreigner, he just wanted to play. Maybe this foreigner was playing with him right now? maybe she wanted him as a toy, maybe he was a worthy toy after all, but he would break, he was about to break, he felt as if his clock was about to shatter in millions of pieces, and she would throw him away because he would be broken and then Joker would throw him in the prison as a useless old broken toy; it hurt so much… his clock hurt, he didn´t want to be broken; He felt another pull in his clock it was different, it was like being poked, like an embrace, a suggestion, a caress, it was demanding and curious, as if it was about to give him an order, he would comply, it melted bellow the pain, but it was there; he wanted her to play with him… but… he couldn´t take the pain anymore…

.

Aria was surprised, she hadn´t expect such a reaction, she had originally expected a jolt as if a defibrillator was applied to an organic heart, but it was not. Instead pain was constant and frolic on the subject. It took her less than half a minute to infuse the electric current so that the metal underneath the tissue was imbued enough to become a temporary electromagnet, she hadn´t even need an outrageously strong current, maybe she needed to adjust it depending on the target´s size and age; She was pleased because she had discovered a way to deal with people in this world, she just needed to plan and device it better and she might even be able to use it against big groups. Now she had the upper advantage. Of course more tests were needed and maybe the reaction was exaggerated because her test subject was young, even after she had cut off the current the effects persisted.

She suddenly considered that if she could electrically induce a clock, even if it was one of the "hearts" people had in wonderland, then she could transmit waves to it… it may be an analog device, but a clock was a devise non the less, so perhaps… To satisfy another test she activated her secondary synch mode (it was too risky activating the main one in her state), she was directly on top of the boy, so the proximity was enough. She once again was surprised with the reaction, she could "sense" the device, it was nothing she had ever felt with the exception of the first times she synched, when she felt herself as a device. Still this was different, it was…. She couldn´t describe it, but she wanted to explore it, she sent a simply ping to gauge it, like poking it with a finger, then she passed a couple impulses around it to scan it, and it reacted back, she wanted to send a simple binary order, she wanted to see if she could make the parts of the clock move forward with an electric impulse, she tried, but the boy couldn´t take it anymore and finally passed out among convulsions and tremors.

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Aria rose up as her sensors detected people approaching, she considered killing the kids but decided against it, the girl had passed out too and had not hurt her directly, intended to, yes, but hadn´t succeeded, and the boy had suffered for messing with her, the magnetic infuse would end soon; besides they worked for Joker, and as a deference to him she would leave them be. She looked at the children before leaving silently, the shoulders of the girl would dislocate if she wasn´t released soon, but people were on their way, so it was no problem, as for the boy… (_**Does he looks a bit older?) **_, he was out but relatively fine (if being still alive was your only standard for "fine"). For the moment she had more important matters to attend to, like getting rid of the direct treat on her life the other crew from Diamond posed.

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* * *

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She had a plan and she would set up the trap at the amusement park. She went to visit Gowland once more and made some suggestions for getting the general improvements faster and better, and she conveniently knew a group of constructors that were the best and fastest option for it (and that of course were affiliated to the lullaby). Gowland agreed immediately because he was practically ready for his event as Vivaldi had gotten a second one when it was his turn.

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_-And what kind of event will it be?_

_-A karaoke contest!_ –Gowland proudly claimed

_-Sounds like fun, may I come to see it? (__**it´ll be fun seeing them sing **__XD )_

_-Of course, you should participate too! I will even add a big prize– Gowland was delighted, he knew he was going to win because his music was oh so impressive._

_-But aren´t role holder events meant for roleholders? _

_-Nha, this time it´s open. So you´re free to come, in fact I insist. As soon as the system is ready I´ll hold it._

_-Cool!_ –Aria was already planning how to further up her plans and seal the trap thanks to the contest, at the very least she could use it to avoid interferences and would have a change to try messing with a big central system, so she convinved Gowland of some other details. And it would be fun, probably her last chance for a karaoke contest. Once she was back I her world there would be nothing but to reach that place and do what was needed to be done. -_By the way, would you like to make the event into a_ charity thing? I know of an animal shelter that could use the help.

_-Rondo, chyu!_

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The door opened and Pierce arrived to give her a hug and a kiss in the cheek. He then started singing "mawaru chykyu Rondo" (_**look for it in youtube, Pierce´s sing Italy´s version and Aria Germany´s**_) and Aria/Rondo sang along while both held hands like stupid college girls in front of a very confused Gowland, but when Gowland took out his violin to provide musical background Pierce dragged her out with amazing strength and speed for someone of his size. They reached one of Pierce´s many safe houses and he provided a banquet of cheese dishes as he had promised her after the ball (he had asked Elliot to teach him to cook and just changed the carrots for cheeses in the recipes). She was delighted (she happened to have a gourmet taste for cheeses, especially the ones with really strong flavors), and Pierce was too. They finished all the cheese while watching some animes courtesy of her gadgets. Pierce just had a talent for bringing out the crazy fangirl she really was.

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Pierce was happy because the cat was away with Alice, but would have liked to have Alice there too because if she was lost then he could find her and keep her in his collection. Aria got bothered by it and leaved.

On her way she remembered that Gowland had told her that Alice was looking for her and that Boris had volunteered to accompany Alice to the Clover tower. She of course wanted to ask Alice a few question, now that Joker had showed her Alice´s past she just needed to confirm some facts; but she needed to set up various things first for her plan, so she headed to one of the lullaby´s places in the territory careful to avoid anyone tracking her.

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* * *

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Biggs and Wedge were told to head to the amusement park by Berceuse´s orders. When they arrived she had already set things for the amusement park´s system and was directing the steps of her trap for during the event (and of course planning the outfit for participating in it as it probably was her last change to be geeky) and of course she took a nap too on the couch of her office there.

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_-Boss! Are you fine?!-_ Biggs loudly entered the office.

_-Whut?-_She (drooled) jumped up.

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Wedge looked relieved to see her less beaten than last time and getting a bit of rest, Biggs on the other hand was straight crushing her in a hug until Wedge pried him off her before she killed him or passed out.

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_-Sorry boss, it´s just that we are really happy to see you not half dead._ – Biggs apologized for the 10th time (not that he regretted it) after she checked her status and confirmed that her wound held fine.

_-(sight) It´s fine…. So what´s new?_

_-Miau!_ – A kitten jumped into her lap.

_-Bunsen!? _

_-Yes, we abducted him for you!_ –Biggs grinned. –_Actually it wasn't hard, the mortician forgot to feed him and the kitten went out to look for food, we just got him before he returned to the clock tower._

_-Julius forgot to feed him!_ –Aria was not happy with the clock master (even if the reason he didn't feed the cat was because he passed out from hunger, overwork, tiredness and worry because certain very hurt green eyed merc girl was moving around the most dangerous territories and he couldn´t concentrate on his job. Of course Aria didn´t knew that and she probably didn´t care ).

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Aria called someone to bring food for her, the kitten and for Biggs and Wedge, which they became very happy about to be considered by her (_**weirdos**_).

Wedge took the word and informed her of all their progress and the meeting with the Diamond crew.

.

_-This is what we will do, you will accept the request for tracking the 2° foreigner and will spread the news that I´ve been around the amusement park for the great event and will participate in it, full costume, and alone. Negotiate with the Diamond guys about an attack of the other group and during the event we will launch our own attack, I want some of them alive to interrogate them, I have a hunch that there is even more behind this second group than what we know._

_-Of course.-_ Wedge was already making plans to deal with that.

_-Boss… there are also some new rumors…_ -Biggs started and seemed a bit afraid to continue until she urged him to do so_- It seems that someone managed an attack on the prison and caused a mass escape from prisoners…. the prisoners that did managed to escape said that the new foreigner had tried to help them pointing them to another route and then even fought Joker to give them a chance to escape… some even said that it was you who planned the attack._

_-WHAT!? _

_-So.. is not true?_- Biggs asked

_-Of course not!_ – She then explained them what happened but stopped at the point after Joker had recognized her and stopped attacking her. They didn´t need to know about the explosion or her friendship confession to one of the most hated man in wonderland – _I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time._

_-Or at the right place at the right time – _Wedge smiled and said_ – because of that rumor and because people think that you work for the lullaby, we´ve been getting more people in our ranks, of course no one knows who Berceuse is, but our influence extended in just a few time changes._

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They planned and talked for a while, mixing business with silly stuff and friendly chat, maybe these two were also more than acquaintances but not friends quite yet. She then entered the details of her plan; she would need the full attack team to protect her after the karaoke contest while she synched with the system to use every machine and devise in the amusement park to guide and trap their foes; They didn´t understood what she meant with "synch" but they took to their clocks that she would need to be protected and they were **** serious about it.

Bunsen purred like an off boat motor (Aria wondered if Boris could purr) and how little the kitten´s clock must be, she hadn´t checked the size of that boys clock but surely Bunsen´s was way smaller. An experiment came to her (no, not the one with the cat in the box with poison that said the cat was in a quantum state both dead and alive until observed) and she decided to try it. She took out some of her gadgets to rec and monitor the experiment and told Biggs and Wedge how to use them for that and they seated at her sides. She then synched in secondary mode, her contact lenses activated and the nape of her neck itched, she could sense her nearby gadgets but this time she directed the electric binary wave impulses towards the kitten´s clock with care via one of her gaulets while she caressed the fur ball behind the ears with the other.

The kitten was surprised by the strange sensation and his back arched a bit but then he was purring again more content. She could "sense" the kitten, she sent some jolts to see if the kittens clock reverberated back, and it did, along with other 2 other bigger sensations.

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_-Boss? What is happening_ –Wedge sound a bit scared.

_-I got a weird sensation in my clock_ – Biggs sounded unsure too.

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Aria´s eyes opened wide.

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_-Don´t worry and let me experiment…_ - She ordered.

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And she did experiment on the three. She learned that without the magnetic infuse (like the one she had forced upon the jester boy) she could send basic wi-fi impulses to their clocks, just the insinuations of the most primal things and get a reacting signal back but nothing more as long as they were right beside her, like a sound wave´s echo. The magnetic force on the boy earlier had made it possible for her to cause (painful) physical effects, but without it her signal was too weak, she also couldn´t try her main mode either, and she decided that she was not going to try it on Biggs and Wedge, she was not above of experimenting on them and she would probably do it for the less dangerous and painful test she was planning, but she didn´t want to hurt them much, because admittedly, she kinda liked them.

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Biggs and Wedge on the other part were amazed and fascinated to the point of infatuation, they didn´t know foreigners were so wonderful that they could reach and stimulate someone´s clock in that way, even if they were faceless she was gracing them with whatever she did and it felt unrealistic and they felt it being deeply imbued in their that just a small taste of what roleholders felt when a foreigner loved them?

No matter how loyal wonderland made faceless to whatever roleholder they served if they did, they hated and feared roleholders, they were powerful, uncaring and brutal, the roles seemed to rob them of their humanity, almost made them monsters that wonderland needed to survive and continue, but maybe it was worth becoming one just for the slim chance that a foreigner would appear and would give them such outrageously weird but wonderful and stimulating sensation. They felt as if she was giving them strength and power, it was intoxicating.

Their boss of course didn´t knew what she was causing them; to her, she was just sending and receiving an electric signals with all her intend and interest, like turning on and off a lamp; she was putting her concentration, urge and dedication in every new wave she send just to see what happened, they off course just told her they felt an energy shot (telling her what they were feeling would be as weird as saying she had caused them an erection), but soon it became very tiring and she ended the experiment when the metallic taste of blood reached the back of her mouth.

What she had tried she couldn´t do tit for long; had she had the appropriate equipment she would have learned that every wave she´d produced, had been magnified like the wave of an earthquake and had been absorbed by the clocks and bodies of her test subjects, later on they discovered that they have somehow become stronger, a bit more powerful.

She sent them off and rested with Bunsen sleeping over her neck.

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* * *

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They left to follow her orders. Wedge then told Biggs what the guy from Diamond had said about foreigners (he had fake a personal meeting so that he could know more of their intentions towards their boss… and he had gotten , even if he had ripped them from the guy), and it was true. Foreigners made those around them stronger, but instead of made it gradual, like Alice had done to the hatter, whatever their boss did was instant, no wonder she had fallen asleep so fast, she had been tired and hurt from the start, but her little "experiment" had drained her completely.

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_-So let me get this…-_ Biggs tried his best to assimilate what his friend told him in private – _The dude from Diamond said that Wonderland needs foreigners to give their energy so that this world can continue existing, and that energy is like a battery that runs out with time and it is replenished with a foreigner´s love, hopes and dreams… but not all people from her world can become foreigner and all that energy must be given willingly, and the game of hearts allows roleholders to gain that energy when they win the game and thus they become more powerful…. But they don´t know it, and everyone loves the foreigner because wonderland hopes that the foreigner will love someone back, and that is why wonderland makes roleholders as appealing as possible. But because no foreigners arrived to Diamond for a while and because the dodo broke the balance and consumed too much energy too fast, Diamond couldn´t go on…. And those who escaped from Diamond are consuming the energy of Hearts and Clover faster and that´s why a second foreigner was allowed or rather "needed" to come, because if not, then Clover will collapse and then Hearts will eventually fade too… but they believe that there is a way for reaching Diamond and if a foreigner goes there, there is a change of ripping off her energy like it happened a long time ago in Spades and restore Diamond so that they can return to their country and then Hearts and Clover and wonderland would be fine… at least for a while. And they want to use our boss for that because Alice is always been protected and our boss is always roaming alone. But the other group wants to kill the foreigners so that wonderland dies and their clocks can be revived ever again….. is that right?_

_-Pretty much, yes._

_-I don't get it_ – Biggs said and Wedge face palmed.

-….

– _Why didn´t you tell me earlier?_

_-Because I wasn´t sure, I dismissed because I couldn´t believe it was true, we all know that foreigners are precious, but we didn´t know just how important they really are; after today I can´t ignore it. _

_-Shouldn´t we tell our boss?_

_-I think she knows it, probably the contact at the ball told her._ – Then he lowered his head sadly- _And I think she won't_ stay in wonderland, there is nothing for her here.

_-D… do you think doesn´t care about us after all? _

_-I don´t know…_

_-I don't care! We still own her a lot, we…_

_-Yes, it does not changes anything. We will do all we can for her, I know. Wonderland can go to hell if it is for her._

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They were even more determined than before.

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* * *

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**Yeah, she didn´t care about the kids at all, things like that are what made others consider her a monster, and with good reason. The war provided her with a lot of opportunities for questionable works that required utter ruthlessness and no ethics whatsoever. However she did stopped because the girl hadn´t actually hurt her and because they were her "friend´s" workers, so she at least holds some consideration towards her "friends", that and because she needed to get out of there. Who knows, maybe she left the kid live to see more long term effects of her experiment. (Author shudders….) **

**But she also didn´t went further in dangerous experimentation with Biggs, Wedge and Bunsen. It seems that it is eaither the best or the worst with her, either heaven or hell without middle ground.  
**

**.**

**I think I like that kitten, I´ll give a digital cookie to whoever knows where his name comes from and what other experiment she was talking about (the one with the box and the posion) ;)**

**.**

**And we already know what the next event will be, of course some things will happen before it. And soon there will be the full explanation of what Wedge tried to explain to Biggs and to all the questions the man told her at the dance.**

**.**

**.**

**What do you think? REVIEW PLEASE**


	30. Chapter 30

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**CHAPTER 30**

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Aria pondered a few things, and realized that there was one roleholder that actually read books, knew about history and was old enough to know useful stuff, so she left Bunsen in the office (after carefully stating that she would rip to shreds everyone if anything happened to the kitten) and set up via a shortcut through the woods to avoid attention from the faceless that were hunting her down, however she happened to stumble upon certain lost knight, who very knightly offered (decided) to accompany her.

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* * *

They hopelessly roamed the woods, fell down a hill, ran from furious bees, stumbled upon a strawberry field, got chased by a bear, etc until nighttime came and they set camp. It had been a very tiring day but she somehow had managed to keep up the pace (although Ace had knightly saved her when the feel of the hill) and not open her wound or end up with new ones.

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-_And that is the "camp fire song" song._ – Ace said **XD**

-_I have some songs too, but they are more appropriate for other kinds of camping situations._- she said, thinking about the rebel camps.

_-Camping is camping, sing them._- Ace urged her.

_-Ok, but a bunch are not in this language…_

_-No problem, I wanna hear them. **:D**_

_-Ok, but you have to sing too ** ;)**_

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Aria then sang the old songs Jaska taught her and some she knew from old wars and Ace sang some silly camping songs. She sang "cara al sol", "katyusha", "the warsavianka" among others, (she however didn´t sang "the internatinale" , it carried too much emotion due to the historical charge). It amazed her how such songs had survived for so many years and still held do much emotion and significance; Ace asked her to translate them and she did partly, he was surprised at how bellicose and pessimistic were some of the lyrics.

It was in general a nice night, somehow Ace even had marshmallows and because the weather was warm they decided to sleep under the starts.

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_-It was a fun day, thank you Ace._ – She said and laid back to see the starts.

_-Oh? I though you would have collapsed after the angry raccoons XD_ – Ace sat besides her. – _I want to spar with you some time, eh?... You´re welcome._

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In truth Ace was amazed she hadn´t collapsed despite his efforts to strain her, he even had to throw her over his shoulder and carry her away when the bear had attacked them, as she had been about to shot down the poor animal. She of course complained afterwards that the bear was going to be their dinner and her new rug. The knave never contemplated that she would try to fight back or that she would actually keep up with him and never ask for his help despite her wounds and tiredness. Last time she had been in a very bad shape, he had not liked that and neither have Julius, it had been partly his fault for being slacking off at his job, twice if he considered that as the executioner he should have kill the escaping prisoners and whoever gave them the explosives (Joker had tried to keep it from him but Ace stumbled upon one of the escaping prisoners).

She was weird and it confused him at times (_**well, she confuses everyone**_ XD ), however it was a nice kind of confusion, it was more like excitement because you never knew what she would pull out next. He admitted with satisfaction that it had been a fun day.

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_-Hey! Aren´t you angry that we´ve been lost all day and that you didn´t react the castle?_ – Alice had always gotten angry because he always ended up lost and made her lose her time. He also wanted to see Aria angry, the closest he´d seen her get angry was when the Cheshire cat caught her half naked wearing the wardens clothes (he still liked the idea of her wearing those clothes). He was sure that she would be even more fun if she got angry; But he didn´t want her angry,that would not be enough; her anger was cold, cautions and rational, she didn´t lose her cool, her heart didn´t beat faster, she was well trained or at least too , he didn´t want her angry. He wanted her raging, he wanted her furious, he wanted to see all the passion she had for science turned to something more physical and raw, to see her go brutal and primal. He wanted to see what she was capable of, if she was indeed capable of doing what those corpses he had found after the ball suggested, pure brutal rage and wanted to confirm if a foreigner was indeed capable of that.

-_Nha. Besides were not lost, I know perfectly well where I am and where I´m heading. We simply took a little detour through the panoramic route to adventure a bit_ – She grinned and Ace´s felt his clock tick with strength. Maybe getting her angry could wait.

_-But what if I was lost and lost you on purpose?_ – By know she had probably heard how lost he really was.

_-Then so what? Getting lost can be fun every once in a while. You end up learning new stuff and finding cool places. Take today as an example, we found that strawberry field and we learned that poisonous ivy and raccoons are not a good mix._ – She was in very good spirits – _Going camping with you is fun._ _Even if you didn´t let me get our dinner. We could have dine roasted bear, y´know?_

_-Are bears good to eat?_ – Alice had even been against him hunting rabbits and here she was scolding him? For not letting her kill a bear.

-_We would have find out. It was meat and it was fresh._ – She said seriously.

-B_ut it would have been a waste, a bear is too big and we can´t eat more than half of it_- Ace pouted a bit – _What would we have done with the rest?_

-_You´re right … maybe we could have smoked the rest of the meat and get some of the most useful or marketable pieces and sold them, I wanted the skin for a rug or a cape and the internal organs would have made for a wonderful haggis pie… better yet, we could have taken some meat to Julius, he seriously needs to eat more and better._

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Ace tough of Julius, Julius and never gone out camping with him willingly (or he was just being difficult and playing hard), so he didn´t knew how cool camping could be. Maybe Aria could help him convince Julius, and that would be his perfect chance for a trio. In fact the more time she worked for him and Julius the more his chances of getting Julius to loosen up and get into his oh so wanted trio with the foreigner or at least with into a duo with him, he didn´t mind a duo with the mortician, his most precious person, in fact he would enjoy it very much and if Aria happened to get into it good too, she was fun and seemed to be able to keep up with the action (as long as she was not hurt and dying of course, so he´d have to take care of her not getting killed), even if she only watched it would turn him on, girls liked that right? It´s like a secret female fetish to see two hot guys making out, so she would probably get excited and want to join the fun, it was a good supposition he supposed.

Maybe he could rape her right now, but she was tired and still hurt, and if he broke he then he couldn´t use her with Julius later.

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_-Hey Aria, maybe we can get lost together (with Julius) again._

_-Maybe the chance will happen, maybe it wont. I don´t know , but if it happens then we should make it fun. Sounds like you enjoy getting lost Ace._

_-I don´t know, I´m always lost, so I don´t know very well how not being lost feels. But I don´t sweat the small stuff._

_-As long as you have a reference point to head to in the end you are not lost, no matter what the world throws at you, and if you ever want to reach somewhere then led me lead you and you wont be lost, I have very good navigating devices._

_-WHUT..!?_

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Ace had taken her in a hug and had rolled her on top of him forcing her head over his chest with his strong and firm grip.

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_-Just stay like this for a while, I want you to listen to my clock, I think it´s ticking faster.-_ He held onto her tighter, to hell if this was forced upon him by the game, he wanted either to get her lost too and understand what being lost really meant or he wanted her to lead for him and make him forget how hopelessly lost he really was even if for a little while. He wanted her to despair, she was never lost, she was just so gloomily certain on everything that it sickled him; he wanted her to be miserably lost with him or like him, not miserably certain like she was.

He also hated that he was lost into her.

_-Ok, but don´t be so rough, I´m still hurt you know?_ – She said and rested her head over his clock to listen to it, the position was actually comfortable and Ace´s arms kept her warm. She didn´t disliked it, quite the contrary,but she was still wary of Ace´s intentions.

Ace wasn´t letting go so she tried to count the seconds with the tick-tock of his clock and even used it to count her bit rate (what she called her heart beat rate) but she didn´t detect anything strange with his clock. Soon she was dozing off until she finally feel asleep into the knave´s embrace, she liked the constant and firm mechanical sound of a clock. Once she was asleep Ace took his previously discarded to to use it as a blanket and went slept too.

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* * *

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The next day they woke up very early, Ace remembered that he needed to get to the prison and then take the clocks back to Julius, so they were on their way.

The knave had been sure he was reaching the castle of hearts when he swiftly parried a few bullets while Aria stood behind him to use him as a human shield.

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_-You again!?_ – The 2° in command from the Mafia took a change to shoot a couple more bullets towards the knight.

_-Oh? Hi Mr. not a bunny, what are you doing so near the castle?_

-_The castle? You´re in the hatter´s territory._ – Blood merely stated as he transformed his cane into a Tommy machine gun.

_-Elliot? Blood?_ – a voice came from behind the knave and Aria carefully looked from the side of her meat shield.

-_Big sis!_- The twins screamed.

-_Huh? Who? Aria!_ –Elliot stopped pointing his gun at Ace but didn´t lower it completely.

_-Oh? Miss Aria, I wasn´t expecting a visit from you right now._ – Blood said.

_-Well, I had been lost in the woods and in the road of life when this brave knight found this poor maiden and helped her in her dismay. Sir Ace was gallantly escorting me when we stumbled upon here._

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_-Brave knight?_ - Blood asked with a raised eyebrow.

_-Sir Ace? –_ Ace asked quite confused but really amused.

-_Aria… did this runt hit you in the head or something?_ – Elliot asked with a bit of concern.

_-No…?_

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Blood though that if Alice had gone off with the other roleholders then he could play a bit with the other foreigner.

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_-In any case it is an amazing opportunity. I did promised a tea party didn´t I?, I´ll prepare one right away, please stay, I insist-_ He said in a tone that let no other choice left.

-_Indeed, you did invite me to one at the ball, circumstances however have not allow me to come. So I gladly accept._ – Aria had actually missed the treat in Blood´s offer, but she they hadn´t got breakfast and this was her change to get some of her questions answered- _What do you say Ace?_

_-No, I´ll pass, the tea parties of her majesty are already boring enough, I need to get somewhere else too._ –The knight said indirectly criticizing Blood.

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Ace didn´t like that she had accepted, but he also needed to finish his businesses. She didn´t know yet he was the executioner, besides he didn´t want her getting near the circus or prison so soon, if she liked two dudes making out then he wanted her away from the Jokers; but he also didn´t want her near the bloody twins (and he would have to think something to keep the lizard and the mafia bunny away too). The knight suddenly got an idea to make the situation uncomfortable and give a steps up with her.

He grinned madly at the hatter´s crew and then took Aria´s hand and knelled in front of her. He was about to play along and do something very knightly in an overly melodramatic way.

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_-Oh MY fair maiden of pure beating heart from foreign lands! It pains my clock to leave my dame in such unfair company. But as a knight I, Sir Ace the knave of hearts! must go on a quest of knightly and chivalrous deeds! Alas I must leave you knowing that your delicate but capable self will be able to overcome any obstacles that may hider your way. So farewell for now MY dear lady, I promise that this knight´s gracious deeds will be performed in your name and honor!_ - Then he kissed her hand, got up, bowed to her and left through a road in into the woods. (_**That was very "knightly", right? Maybe next time I should ride a horse and wear armor)**_ **:D **

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* * *

When Ace´s "knightly" figure got lost in the woods Aria turned around to the hatters with a weirded out expression.

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_-Well, that was ****** weird. Does he normally acts like that?_ – She asked the equally weirded mafiosos.

_-If he did we would faint from either shock or laughter_ – Blood answered –_ But please come inside, I´ll prepare the party right away. Elliot, go and finish the paperwork and then set up the service_.

-_Yay! We get to play with big sis!_- One twin said

_-Or we can make sis play with us!_- The other twins added

_-You won´t !_ – Elliot forbid.

-_If she wants to play with them she can_ – Blood complied.

_-You did say that you would teach me to throw knives…_

_._

The now adult twins got a hold of her wrist and dragged her somewhere to teach her to throw knives before Elliot could stop them.

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_-She seems interesting._

_-Blood?_

_-What?_

_-What about Alice?_

_-What about her? If she does not want to be here then we can use this other foreigner as a trophy. Winning not one, but two foreigners would be devastating for the other territories. If Alice goes away then fine, I already used her anyways. Now tell me about this other foreigner while we prepare the tea party._

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Elliot's ears flattened when Blood said that. He knew his boss was very worried and insecure about Alice, but he was also very angry and jealous.

They had just come back from going out to look for her. They found her at clover´s territory and Alice insisted on having some space for a while, Blood had tried to forcefully bring her back, but the cat had escaped with her through a door and the lizard had appeared to get them away from the territory.

Blood had been furious, he though Alice was getting away from him, but Elliot knew that Alice loved the hatter deeply and just needed a small break; Blood obviously didn´t though or liked that, but if it Alice indeed didn't liked Blood anymore then maybe her game would start again, and that counting on her not returning immediately to her world.

Elliot told Blood what he knew about the other foreigner and hoped for the best, he knew that right now Aria was stepping on very dangerous grounds.

.

Meanwhile in another part of the mansion there was a board with knives imbued in it. Aria had refused using a "moving target" (aka. Some faceless) as target because if she couldn´t hit properly and effectively a board then it was useless using a moving target, and making the moving target stay still was a waste. A board was better because she could gradually correct her aim and force.

So there she was, with one twin holding her from behind to correct her body posture and the other showing her how. Soon they passed from small throwing knives to larger daggers, axes and finally they got outside for practice with guns. She would have liked to continue perfecting with knives but valued the versatility of the instruction, she wasn´t hitting the target in the exact point she wanted but at least she wasn´t hitting the wall behind anymore.

.

_-You´re doing better big sis!_- said Dee

_-But it would be more fun if we used a faceless_- Added Dum

_-We should try with a machine pistol next._- Dee said and took out a machine gun pistol.

_-No way brother! Sis would prefer a revolver!_- Dum took out a revolver.

.

Both started arguing about what their big sis preferred when Aria interrupted.

.

_-Actually I prefer to use this._- She said and used one of her UZI´s.

.

To say that the twins were delighted was little, they were in ecstasy. This big sis was playing with them and used guns. She wasn´t as scaredy as their other sis and she was eager to play with them. Even if she didn´t like their child forms. She also was a member of the slackers club and they liked to be part of that club even if the ugly caterpillar was a member too.

They once again positioned themselves at her sides.

.

_-By the way, how can you change your ages?_- Aria hadn´t got the time to research that yet.

_-Oh? We accelerate our clocks or return them_- Dee answered her and changed age. _–See?_

-_Can you change to other ages?_- She didn´t understand the accelerating their clocks (_**maybe the clocks are not only their hearts, but what if them mark their life length? That shouldn´t be possible, it´s too sci-fi but…)**_

-Sis… why don´t we play another game? –Dum asked her in a suspiciously lascivious tone that went completely unnoticed by her but not to his brother.

-Yeah! Play with me sis! We can play an adult game. – Dee said and changed his age again to be an adult, he then tentatively stretched his hand to land it on her hip but his was intercepted by his brother.

-_Im sure Sis Aria prefers to play with me, Dee_

_-No way! Big sis prefers me, Dum._

_-She does not, she likes me better._

_-No she doesn´t. She likes ME better._

_._

The argument starting to get out of hand when they took out their axes; to Aria it was simply annoying.

.

_-Shut up! I don´t care either way. I value both at the same level _

_._

Aria said trying to tell that she didn´t care, however it was taken by the twins in a different way

.

_-Yeah! Big sis likes us both!_

.

-_SHUT UP YOU BRATS!_ – Elliot had arrived to get them – _The tea party is ready, if you follow me please, miss Aria **:)**_

.

.

* * *

.

The garden was lovely, but more lovely to Aria was the big table full of food. Blood was already seated at the middle of the long table, when they arrived he and motioned for her to seat nearby; she sat in front of Blood Dupre with Elliot sitting at her right and the twins at her left.

Blood was observing her intently, carefully measuring her every move. She acted very confidently and was not nervous at all, which meant she either was as naive as Alice or maybe none at all.

Aria knew this was not a party, it was a battleground and she had to play wise. She was well aware that who the hatters were and the sort of stuff Blood Dupre could do, she had researched them after all and knew how his mafia worked. She had experience with mafias back home in her world, at least referential knowledge about them. When she was receiving help from one of her "friend" blocks she was introduced to some shady characters, whom she got along pretty well and learned a thing or two and that had provided her with some very useful information, experience and things (like the bio substitute for the dimetacrilat polietilenglicol that was integrated in the cartilaginous tissue of her joints to enhance them and forfeit future wear). For what she´ve gathered of the mafia´s in wonderland they weren´t as bad as the ones in her world. Sure, they would kill you, but their torture seemed methods seemed quite light compared to even a small part of what one could read in any independent journalism blog.

.

_-I hope this is of your liking Miss Aria._ –Blood smoothly said; he was boasting.

_-They are Mr. Dupre, it´s quite the nice arrange you´ve got for such short time. _

_-Back to an honorific? I had guessed we were on a first name basis_ – Blood was opening the change for an attack to test the waters. Elliot and the twins knew to keep silent while their boss spoke.

-_If that´s what you prefer I have no problem with it._

_-Then call me Blood. It has been unfortunate that we hadn´t meet before, but as I´ve heard you´ve been… busy. Yet, I almost find offensive that you hadn´t come to visit us._- Blood sent the first offensive, he wanted to measure her reaction to such a small veiled threat but it had gone past her unnoticed.

_-As you´ve said, I´ve been busy_ – Aria knew his was a tactic to have her telling him information, give a hint and the other speak and complete the phrases.

-_I´ve heard that you´ve been frequenting all the territories besides mine. Perhaps fulfilling the other roleholders needs-_ A subtle treat was useless, so Blood tried to provoke her. It was very easy to do with Alice.

-As a matter of facts I have. – Elliot chocked on his pastry and the twins spat their drinks, Blood just elegantly raised an eyebrow – _For example, Nightmare hired me for reducing the redundant flow of bureaucratic processes, Peter White hired me for administrative homogenization and management of public projects and government functions, and Gowland wanted me to improve the electromechanical functions and monitoring in the amusement park - A complete yet conveniently vague answer._

.

_-What?_ – Elliot had survived chocking but maybe the lack of oxygen prevented him from hearing what she had said, or maybe he just didn´t get it.

_-So big sis is working for everyone but us!_

_-That´s not fair!_

_-It seems you are quite versatile for fulfilling variable men´s needs, even Joker´s it seems. –_ Elliot turned to alarmed to see her, Blood still had his eyebrow raised and looking at her earrings, his double meaning completely ignored by her.

_-He hired me to help with finances -_ She said.

-And I supposed he paid you with those earrings...?- Blood wanted to know how Joker had really used her, he may have hired her for something but his intentions have probably been a plot for something completely different.

-_Nha, just before I decided to attend the ball I was in need of basic jewelry and this was the only thing around. I got them from a dead faceless. Joker didn´t even knew these existed. At the ball was the first time he...err... them had seen them_ - She completed and cut of any ties in the conversation regarding the earrings.

.

Blood nodded and sipped at his tea, that little piece of information put him a bit more at ease.

.

_-Wow! you are quite talented_ - Elliot said, happy to know she had nothing to do with Joker besides a one time job **:)**

_**-**Big sis even knows hoe to use guns!_ -Dum added excitedly.

_-Hey sis! Which territory are you staying at? You can come and stay here and play with us!_

-I´m staying everywhere and nowhere. Besides, wonderland can be quite dangerous, staying in one place would make me a sitting I more or less from place to place.**  
**

-And I supposed you got paid well for serving so many clients. - She wasn´t that old, just a few years older than Alice and Blood wondered why she hadn´t choose a territory to live at. Maybe she liked various role holders from different territories?

-Mercenaries in general are fans of money. And I´m a "white neck mercenary" with a lot of talents, Blood.

-(_**So it seems…)**_ Then perhaps I can hire you for something too.. but what for I wonder?- This was his chance to lure the other foreigner to his territory and he gleefully took it.

_-You have quite the variety of chances in your business, but I can perhaps help out more in one of your labs. I know that some very interesting and fun drugs are being created here in this world and I´d like to research that. I can improve the effects or production, change their administration format, develop synthetic substitutes…_ - She continued by talking about the bio-chemical interchanges in the human body and the hatters were surprised by a foreigner knowing stuff like that.

.

Blood was more surprised that she knew about his labs and his businesses, that meant that she probably hadn´t been sheltered by the other roleholders and he couldn´t even fathom why. He worried that maybe Alice´s game had started again and the other roleholders were going after Alice and thus had leave this other foreigner aside.

He didn´t really care about this foreigner at all, but he considered that perhaps it would amuse him when she accidentally got a dose of some of the exotic drugs that the underworld produced, Drugs with almost magical effects like turning a person into an animal temporarily, drugs that gave certain abilities temporarily, body exhange, nice and psychedelic dream trips that the incubus hated, the normal aphrodisiacs, sensibility enhancers… and all those with more strange and dangerous effects. It could be potentially very amusing, so he hired her despite the twins comments about the "slackers club" they were all part of. Not that he minded the lack of work ethic the twins (and apparently Aria too) had, as long as thy worked when he did need them it was fine.

.

-_And what kind of tea would you like? This is a tea party after all_ – Blood would measure her personality by whatever tea she liked, and it would give him a minute or two to ponder how he could use her. She was just so different from Alice…

.

Aria knew this was a test, like accepting an alcoholic drink, however this was more tricky, so she decided to launch a test of her own.

.

_**-(please don´t say you prefer coffee! please don´t say you prefer …)**_ –Elliot´s mental rant was interrupted when she decided what she wanted to drink.

-Right now I´m in the mood for a simple chai infusion, just the average mix of black tea with cinnamon, cardamom, clove and ginger with just a sprinkle of pepper and a couple rose petals would be fine.

.

Blood didn´t knew what the hell she was talking about (_**at least she didn´t ask for coffee**_).

.

_-Chai you said? Never heard of it. But if you know how to prepare it we probably have those ingredients.- _She did, and wonderland meet a new drink (which would be leased to the hatter´s later as Aria saw a nice business with it).

.

Somehow the conversation drifted to tea mixes Blood had never heard about but that he was perfectly willing to try with the occasional inserts from Elliot and the twins. However Blood didn´t manage to get any info out of her until she touched Alice as a topic.

.

_-I tough Alice would be here too. Isn´t she around?_

_-No, she´s not_ – Blood said dryly and the nearby temperature dropped a bit for the twins and Elliot.

_-Such a shame, I haven´t meet her yet and there are a couple of questions I´d like to ask her?_

_-Really? Maybe I can ask some of them for you._

.

Aria gauged his intentions, but given the personal nature of some of the information she needed to finally reach a conclusion she decided against ask him, at least directly.

.

-_It´s more of a personal thing between foreigners_ – She dismissed it, but took the change to get information about her – _Like where she is originally from and such. Nothing too hard or important. And nothing that goes against your interests Blood. She was quite rude and uncouth at the ball and I was wondering what I did to her to cause such reaction._

_-I apologize in her behalf, I´m afraid your earrings reminded her of a very nasty experience._

.

Aria managed to gt some mor info but nothing really important, she however now knew Alice´s age and some more tales about her here in wonderland.

The party ended with Aria getting a new job (her standard clauses included) and getting Blood´s permission to get books from his personal library. They accompanied her to the front gates (she insisted on going on alone to her next destination) and said goodbye.

.

.

* * *

.

After finally meeting properly the hatters Aria reached the castle of hearts without any incidents until certain bunny prime minister found her in her way to the library. As it has become common between them, Peter was pointing his gun at her, this time from behind and had the barrel of his revolver pressed against the back of her head.

.

-Don´t you know manners Peter White? – She asked smugly and annoyed

-You!

-What is it? I didn´t came to see you. But I can work for in those plans for high productive rotating crops later. But now I´m busy.

-Her majesty is not here, she just left for town to go shopping with Alice. The knave is not here either.

-And why aren´t you with your precious Alice right now? Doesn´t matter, I came to see the king.

-Then I have a job for you right now. Let´s see If you´re so good with this one. (You´re gonna end up so humiliated that you won't be back after that)

.

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* * *

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**How was that for a little fluff and fun with Sir Ace the knightly "knight" ? (if that can be considered fluff at all). And now she´s got another job and its working really everywhere. Do you think Blood is right and some amusing incident will occur?  
**

**And possible could Peter be thinking? I guess the one who will end up bad somehow will be the poor albino bunny ;)**


End file.
